Even With Evans
by Camy-Tay
Summary: Picture Perfect Lily Evans has a huge secret. Not only is she a magical rarity, but she is the younger sister of a famous singer in the band, the Marauders. Now, with Voldemort rising and Lily graduating, James comes to realize exactly who he fell for.
1. Chapter 1

Lily Evans was not every girl. In fact, if they really knew who Lily Evans was, she'd be more than even popular.

Sadly, only one person seemed to notice.

It all started on the train to Hogwarts…

"Hi," two boys with black hair greeted a young girl with red hair. "Can we join you? All the other compartments are taken," one of the boys asked, walking up to her.

She shrugged, looking out the window. "It's your funeral. My brother catches any guys in here, he's likely to shoot you. Girls don't even want to stay around me because of him. My name's Lily, by the way."

The boy that asked to join her smiled and sat next to her, extending a hand to shake. "James. I'm James Potter. And this is Sirius Black…right?"

With black hair, a firm face, and a smile, Sirius Black was older-looking than just the average first-years, which he very much liked. "Yep! What's your last name Lily?"

Hearing a knock on the door, Lily gasped and shoved the two boys to the side and told them to be quiet.

There at the door, stood the Head Boy and lead singer to a band called the Marauders. Harry Evans was a bright boy, with raven-hair and viridian eyes. The same eyes that their great-grandfather had possessed, and was now embedded into two of his descendents.

Next to him was a seventh-year with dark auburn hair and piercing blue eyes. With straight white teeth and a button nose, Matthew Jameson was Harry's best friend and the band-leader. He was a very friendly person, and always open for Lily to talk to. To her, he was more her brother than Harry was, and much more family than Petunia.

"Evans-Two!" Matt greeted. "What's up? Psyched to see Hoggie-warts?" he joked.

"Jameson, shove it," she warned, scaring James. "Harry, why are you here?" she asked.

"Making sure there are no boys," he replied snidely. When he looked in the room, he snorted. "No girls in here either. Make some friends, Lily. It doesn't kill you."

Sirius was about to sneeze, but somehow he held it. Then he started to wondered why this girl was talking to older guys that acted like jerks. Hey, why was he stuck behind a door anyways?

"I have friends. They happen to be muggles, though. And then there's Sev, but--"

"He wants Slytherin. I don't want you hanging out with anyone from Slytherin. Trust me, you want to be a Gryffindor. Just like Jameson, Ritter, and me! I'll talk to you later," he told her, shutting the door.

She sighed as James and Sirius tumbled away from the seat. Instead of talking to them, Lily just sighed again and went back to looking out the window. She had a lot to think about. Like how her mother had loved it when she found out her son had magic, but hated when Lily got it.

Athena Evans was a squib, who felt so ashamed of being magic-less, went off into the muggle-world and never spoke to her family. Then she met another squib, Lawrence Evans, and fell in love, having three children.

The eldest, their boy Harry, had shown signs at an early age of magic, which lead them back to a world they left.

Apparently being a squib did not change the chances of having a child with magic.

But Petunia had shown no signs, while Lily started to around the same time they got Harry checked-out at St. Mungo's to see why he had magic. It made Petunia and her mother jealous, as well as her mother mad.

Her father had been too happy to care. He had two out of three magic children and he got to see his family more often now. Now that they could finally accept him.

Lily sighed as the door slid open again and in popped her best friend. Severus sat down across from her and she turned away to start crying. Just before she boarded the train, she and Petunia got in a fight because of Snape. He looked at the letter that Dumbledore wrote to Petunia, and Lily let that slip to Petunia. It was Severeus's fault, anyways.

Severus Snape was the boy down her street. He was the first person to know she was a witch--outside her family--and explained magic to her while her brother ignored her for the most part.

After a brief conversation that ended her sad mood, they started talking about houses.

"You'd better be in Slytherin," Snape told her, smiling and nodding his head.

"Slytherin?" Lily asked, shocked. Harry just said to be in Gryffindor. What was it with people wanting to decide for her?

Suddenly the other two boys stopped talking and James looked at Lily surprised. Who'd want to be in that house? It was evil! Besides, that Head Boy said she should be in Gryffindor. This girl had to see the light!

"Who wants to be in Slytherin? I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?" he asked pointedly at Sirius.

In turn, Sirius merely shrugged and said his whole family had been in Slytherin, but he may just break the family tradition. Then James made a dramatic show of saying he'd be in Gryffindor, while Snape made a comment as to being brawny instead of brainy.

So much was going on around Lily. Her brother was going into his last year, and she didn't even know a thing about these houses--the boys did.

But when she heard Sirius make fun of Snape, she decided it was far enough. So together they left the compartment, only to be yelled at by her brother's friend, Thomas Ritter, for being with Snape. So she and Snape broke it off and went in different directions.

She sighed as she found one with her cousin Frank Longbottom in it and sat across from him. For a good half-hour she just talked, teased, and joked with Frank until Harry came in and checked on her. "Family Rule. Can't be yelled at," she declared before he yelled at her, going back to her talk about spells with Frank.

After a few more minutes, two girls popped their heads in. "Hey!" an Asian one greeted, sitting next to Frank. "I'm Daiyu Ling. Can I hang out with you? I'm avoiding someone."

Lily nodded just as her brother's friend, Siyu Chang, ran in as well. "Lily!" he gasped, halting at the door as he looked around the compartment. "Do I need to tell Harry there's a boy in here?"

Shrugging, she crossed her arms over her chest and looked apathetic. "Does he need to be reminded his cousin is here?" she asked. "Why were you running, anyways? You looked possessed."

He sighed. "There's a girl that I wanted to talk to. And I thought watching your ass would be hard. She just let off the best prank I've ever seen. You've got competition, Evans. I'll give her that."

"Bye!" Lily told him, getting up and walking to the door, pushing Siyu out and shutting it behind him with a lock. Then she turned to face the other two girls.

First there was Daiyu, and then there was a pretty ash brown haired girl. While Daiyu looked older than them, this girl looked like she may even be younger. She waved, and smiled shyly. "Hi! I'm Alice. How do you know that guy? He's a seventh-year?"

"Lily…Evans?" Daiyu asked, shocked. "As in…Harry Evans's little sister? That's so cool. I mean, I think everyone knows he has one, but no one's ever seen her. I can't believe I met you."

"Yeah. Which one of you is the prankster?" Lily replied, avoiding the topic. That was the first thing every person she knew asked her about. The Marauders weren't just a wizarding band, it was also popular with the muggles. "What years are you two, anyways?"

"First," Alice replied, putting two fingers up to show who was speaking. "Daiyu's my neighbor. A good friend of the family too. Nice to meet you, Lily."

"Fourth this year. So…you're the one Siyu and Matt talk about. Are you really a good singer too?" Daiyu asked, persisting on a subject Lily didn't like. "Oh, I'm the prankster."

For the first time in her life, Lily was in awe.

* * *

"I feel bad about that girl," James told Sirius as they changed into their school robes. "We really got her mad at us when we made fun of that kid she was with."

Sirius shrugged. "That's what being a Slytherin Worshipper gets you. She's was pretty, though. I'll give her that. Can't wait to start pranking people this year."

"You do pranks too? That's so cool!" James exclaimed, smiling. "I have this one prank I want to pull…it makes a squid appear on whoever the spell is meant to hit. Wouldn't that be cool? My dad taught it to me. Said it worked on this boy he didn't like very much. Something Malfoy. His son's a prefect now. Lucius."

A knock came it the door and in entered another first-year with sandy blonde hair and a slightly scarred face. "Hello. I'm Remus. Remus Lupin. May I join you?" he asked.

James and Sirius shrugged. "Sure."

* * *

The rest went down as fact. Snape made Slytherin and Lily made Gryffindor, as well as James, Sirius, Remus, and Frank. Alice had made it to Ravenclaw, where Daiyu happily greeted her as one of them, only to have Alice come over to talk to Frank.

None of the first-years but Frank and a very quiet Alice, who immediately took to Frank, seemed to know that Harry Evans, the most popular boy at Hogwarts, was Lily Evans's brother.

Lily sighed as she looked around for Daiyu. She was in Ravenclaw. While she enjoyed Alice's company as well, Alice and Frank seemed to be quite chummy with each other. She sighed as she thought of how cool it would be if Alice and Frank got together--even though she only knew the girl for an hour or so, she seemed very nice.

The eye she did catch however, was Siyu's dirty one on Daiyu. Obviously he knew she was the trouble-maker from before. Would he tell Harry that she was hanging out with a trouble-maker?

Sure, she loved Harry and listened to him all the time, even planned to live with him after he left school. But he wouldn't really care what she did, so long as she didn't hurt his reputation.

It wouldn't matter.

He never cared about anything. Sad, but true. Everything was always about him, whether he'd admit it or he didn't. And he didn't.

* * *

A year passed, and Peter joined Sirius, James and Remus. They had made their name known in the Prank-World, and were thinking of a name to call themselves. Thus, they named themselves after their retiring Prank Idols, as well as their favorite band. And had Harry and Tom's blessing to call themselves the Marauders.

In that year, Harry got on to be a huge name in the students' heads as a brilliant prankster as well as student and singer. Now, he was on a tour with Matt Jameson, Tom Ritter, and Siyu Chang.

Lily came to be known as a brilliant child, but wasn't a very popular girl. Still, she didn't much mind that, considering she could easily become the most popular. She just…wanted to live. She didn't care what everyone said and thought.

Daiyu and she hung out often and pulled so many pranks Harry's head spun that whole year. If it wasn't them, it was James's lot. Eventually he just gave up and competed with them to be the best.

Every once and awhile he would even find Daiyu and Siyu snogging, which Lily also saw on occasion when she went to tell Daiyu any new plans. When they became official, Lily was just as happy. But then the time came for Siyu to graduate--and that meant his band would be going on long tours. Daiyu and Lily got even closer, like sisters after that.

* * *

"All right!" Daiyu yelled, walking out of Hogwarts the next year, the school year ending. "My fifth year is over!" she screamed, making Lily laugh. "Hey, Lily? Make a wish for something special next year. You'll be a third-year. You'll be able to go to Hogsmeade!"

Thinking, Lily saw Snape and one of his new Slytherin friends--Mulciber. When they were kids, Severus had lived down the street from her, and they had been semi-close. Now they barely seem to hang out, though they talked over her mirror all the time. It was just "too mortifying" for Severus to hang out with a Gryffindor girl.

She sighed and turned her head and now spotting Potter and his lot. Ever since they insulted her former best of best friends, she wasn't on good-terms with them. Which was a shame with the way he grew.

He got to be quite popular playing Quidditch and was growing to be quite handsome. She had liked him ever since she learned he was good in Defense Against the Dark Arts.

She wasn't so good.

"Okay…Let's see…A wish…" Lily spoke, thinking. "Hmm…to go home and get to actually see Harry. Did you see the owl he sent me? Really. A key to the house is so not my idea of--"

"Lily? Just make a wish for next year," Daiyu ordered.

Sighing Lily took her robes off, catching James's eye and making him drool. She didn't even mean to, or dress sexy. All she wore was her uniform. He was just a guy with hormones. Any stripping was hot at his age. And for some reason Lily seemed hot to him anyways.

Rolling her tongue over her front teeth, she looked up to the sky as she started to board. '_A wish? There's nothing to wish for…I have everything I want, and if I don't I can get it,_' she thought to herself, finding the compartment Frank and Alice were snogging in.

"Hey," Lily greeted, smacking Frank's head as she sat down across from them with Daiyu. "Yu, does it seem like their too chummy?" Lily teased.

"Nah. I stick my tongue down your throat all the time," she replied, rolling her eyes. "You two should get a room…and lock it."

* * *

"So, how was summer?" James asked Lily as they bumped into each other on Platform 9 ¾ after the summer break.

She grew. A lot. And just as he was about to go through, he spotted Lily breaking away from a man and smiling happy. When she turned, she seemed depressed, then shocked to see James.

"What? No hello, no how are you? " Lily retorted, pulling her shirt down as it rode up again. "My summer was fine. And yours? I suppose you and Sirius were together?"

Sirius came up behind Lily and licked her cheek. "Of course, Lily flower. And we had a marvelous time."

Then they heard a shriek, only to turn and see Daiyu running towards Lily. The two girls had owled the entire summer, but Daiyu had gone away with Siyu for the summer to listen to the band and just be with him.

"Yu!" Lily squealed, making several heads turn, thinking she was talking to them. Hugging, the girls squealed as they smiled at reuniting. "How are you, Yu?" Lily asked, teasing.

James sighed. Lily had really matured over the summer and he wanted to talk to her. Why was it he was being forced to share her? Then he started to think. Maybe he could get her alone…on a date. He smiled at the thought.

As the girls talked, James cleared his throat. Ignoring him, they started to talk about what a jerk Harry was and how sweet Matt was for at least visiting when he could. Fed up that his girl was a) taken and b) ignoring him, James resorted to yelling.

"What does Yu mean in Asian anyways?" James asked.

Lily quirked an eyebrow. "Asian?" The way she said it made him feel like an idiot.

"I'm Chinese!" Daiyu piped in, as if it would help.

"Like I know. I think it means Fish. That's what the Chinese restaurant tells me," Lily replied, watching her friend crack up.

"No. No, no, no. Yu can mean 'jade' or 'rain.' Daiyu means 'black jade' according to my parents, but I pretend it means 'black rain.' It sounds cooler. My dad thought it'd be a fun name for a daughter. We need to get you Asian lessons. Chinese, Japanese and Korean ought to do the trick. What was your wish?" Daiyu replied.

Lily shook her head, getting on the train and showing Daiyu the new mirror Matt gave her.

James and Sirius looked on ever her shoulder. It was similar to the ones the pair owned, but this was more ornate with words engraved. Someone spent big bucks. Lily was lucky to have this guy--Matt. And he must know what a treasure Lily was.

Suddenly the glass started to swirl and Lily yelped, jumping as she stashed it into a black cloth bag she procured it from. The words to a Marauders' song started to play that sounded oddly like "Always." But why would she have that song ringing in her mirror?

"What's wrong? It's Matt," Daiyu asked, watching her friend's antics.

"Nope. That was Harry. When Matt tries to talk to me, I get 'Hollaback Boy' to play. Chang's got one too, and so does Ritter. Speaking of, how was summer with Chang?"

Daiyu sighed. "Perfect! Why can't you call him by his first name? Why is it always Chang? You call Matt by his first name. Oh, look what he gave me! It's a promise ring! As soon as I graduate we're going to get engaged! What do you think of the name Cho for a daughter?"

"Why am I having the kid? You want one, you name her yourself! Cho Chang. Sounds cute enough…Cho Cho Chang!" she yelled out, laughing. "Choo choo! And I call him Matt because it gets confusing to call him Jameson."

Daiyu sighed. "So immature. Watch, I'll name her Cho and you'll have a son, and he'll have a crush on her--and not think of Cho Cho Chang."

Lily snorted. "Right. And I'll name him Harry. Sorry, but no. I'd be more likely to name my son Harry than have one that doesn't find humor in that name."

When they found the room Frank and Alice were waiting for them in, they started to broadcast their conversation to them, not knowing Potter and Sirius were behind them.

"How about that? What's more likely?" Lily asked, putting her luggage up above. "Me having a son and naming it Harry, or me having a son that finds no humor in the name Cho Chang?"

"Choo choo train!" Alice squealed, laughing as Daiyu hit her with a soft purse.

Frank laughed. "You screwing Potter is more likely than your kid not finding humor in that name. Another Harry Evans? We have too many as it is. But a Potter? That'd be the day. Oh! Harry Potter. That would be frea-kin' scary!"

Everyone laughed but James and Sirius. James was a little hurt actually by their words.

"Harry didn't even see me once all summer!" Lily complained, finally noticing Potter and Sirius at the door, grinning like the Cheshire cat. "Go, now," she ordered, slamming the door in their faces.

James scowled. "Well that was rude!" he yelled through the door.

* * *

Four years had passed and Daiyu and Siyu were now engaged, putting it off until Lily left school. She was in her last year, and managed to get Head Girl, only to learn that Dumbledore botched the rules and made James a Head Boy as well.

Only the year before she and Severus had a falling-out when he called her a mudblood, and James had persistently asked her out ever since they were fifth-years.

Suddenly the fire cackled in the Head Common Room and Lily jumped to the fire as to muffle the sound of 'Jude Law and A Semester Abroad,' her brother's new "ring tone."

Though she hadn't seen him in three years, they still talked occasionally and lived in the same house, just to avoid their mother and Petunia. Harry was normally too busy, but Lily learned not to show it hurt that he practically tried to ignore her.

Finishing their conversation, Lily went up to bed more depressed than she had for awhile. Harry wanted to let her know to expect an owl with a set of keys for the new house in Godric's Hollow with no guarantee that he'd be there.

What was new? He was never around.

"Lily?" James asked groggily, standing at the door to his room with nothing but his pajama bottoms on. "Is everything all right? It's two in the morning. You don't look so good. Are you feeling okay?"

"Yeah. Everything's fine," she replied, shutting the door as she went in her room.

In the Great Hall that morning James didn't see Lily. Something was going on with that girl. It wasn't like her to miss the chance to talk with Frank and Alice, who'd been dating for so many years they may not have even had other relationships before.

Sirius noticed his friend's distant look and always started to spot out Lily. Remus just looked down at his textbook and kept studying while Peter watched with rapt fascination.

Finally, Lily appeared talking to a Hufflepuff student. She was younger, probably a first-year. But what made even Remus look at her was her hair. Shocking bright pink. But just seconds ago it was a dark blue!

"Bye Tonks!" Lily said, walking towards where Frank and Alice sat to the right of Remus. Sliding in next to him, Lily hugged him. "Good morning Lupin! Black, Potter. No," Lily greeted as routine. Greet her prefect friend, his friends, and deny Potter's date. It had always been deny the date since fifth year.

"Just watch Evans. One day your going to say yes," James replied, smirking at the thought of her dating him while they lived in the Head Tower alone. Very alone.

"Lily, where were you?" Frank asked.

"Dumbledore and I were talking. Harry and I are moving again. Except, Harry won't be there. Why is it whenever _we_ move, it's really just _me_ moving? We're supposed to be perfect, and all I see are flaws!"

"Boyfriend Troubles, Evans? Are you dating an older man?" James asked after choking on his muffin.

Lily snorted. "Right."

Suddenly "Hollaback Boy" started playing, one of the Marauders' lesser songs. Lily took the mirror out of her robes and looked at it.

"Evans-Two? Why is it I got to see your ass?" Matt asked.

"Did not. That was the area between my shoulder blades. What's up?" Lily replied, laughing.

James was shocked she was so happy just at the sound of the boy's voice. Something she never was around him. What was so different? He wasn't Harry, so who was this one?

"Harry's moving you again!" he whined. "That's not fair! You just moved in next door to me! And before you even say it, I like where I live. I'm never moving again."

Then he looked at her and started laughing at her. It wasn't Lily! It was that friend of hers--Tonks. The metamorphagus. Damn, and he said he wouldn't fall for that when they went to prank those kids at her school. He'd have to congratulate them later for pulling that off when he knew it was Lily. She must have gotten better at that charm she was trying.

"Actually, I was going to say suck it up. How's Yu? I haven't seen her or Chang since I left for Hogwarts. I really appreciated that by the way. You three didn't have to see me off."

"Course we did. You're like my little sister. Who wouldn't see their sister off? Rhetorical!" he warned as she started to answer. "God, Evans-Two! Hey, listen…"

As people started to leave the Great Hall, Remus tapped her shoulder to remind her they were leaving. As she said a quick goodbye and stashed the mirror, James just watched her. She didn't hate him anymore for what he did to Severus, but that didn't mean she liked him.

Damn she matured. Now Evans had B-cups on her chest, as he found out when she left her bra in their conjoined bathroom once. She had a really hour-glassy shape, which made him think the hour-glass was named after her. Hell, she was nothing but muscles, but not openly so. He had seen her in a training bra after she came back from running around the lake once, and that girl had abs. And arms, and damn her legs were perfect!

"So, Lily. Who was the girl?" Sirius asked, walking with her to their Charms class.

It was a ritual. James had somehow always gotten the same classes as her, which Sirius, Remus and Peter also got. So, they'd all walk to them together. "She was pretty hot. What year?"

Lily froze. "Tonks? You don't remember her? She's a fifth-year. Nymphadora Tonks? Bloody, she is good at that. She can't fool _me_ anymore, but I guess it works on those that don't know her that well. I'm like her best friend."

Remus spun around to her. "That was Tonks? She looked young! She's a really talented metamorphagus! That's so amazing! No wonder you two are friends."

She smiled brightly. "That and you like her! It helps you when your friends make friends with people you like. Believe me."

Now it was Remus's turn to blush. How could Lily know that? No one knew that! Unless…"This is Tonks now, isn't it?" he asked dryly. "You really think I like you? Lily, can you get out here now? This is a little awkward. And confusing," he yelled, making people stare.

Morphing, Tonks smiled as Lily came out from behind a column. "Three minutes longer than I thought it'd take. You're getting slower, Lupin," Lily teased. She hugged Tonks. "And you're getting better! So it'll be at ten tonight. Don't forget."

"Bye, Lily! Tell Matt I say hi! And make him send a message back to Harry if he wants to keep you from boys like he says he wants to, he should at least see you every year. I mean, really. Can he expect that he'll be the only boy in your life for forever when he's barely there? Only a jerk would think that he can keep you away from guys until you're married."

Rolling her eyes, she motioned for Tonks to get to class. "Like he'd listen. Harry's just an arse. Besides, I'll get to see him soon. He wants me to go back to the house, but this summer I'm going with him. Matt asked me to. Over breaks, I'm going to hang with Yu and you and Chang, maybe Matt if Harry's sober enough on his own."

"That's such a perfect couple," Tonks replied, smiling as she thought of Daiyu and Siyu. "I can't believe how lucky you are, Lily Evans! Well, not entirely lucky, but damn good enough to have such friends and a couple!" she yelled, walking the opposite way down the hall.

She meant Daiyu and Siyu were a great couple, but somewhere it was lost in translation. From her lips to James's ears, he took it as Lily and Harry going out. That would be the day!

Tonks had been jealous before that Lily had such great friends, until she learned it was the only truly great thing in her life. She sung in America and did well, but there were problems. She never saw her family, her brother drunk when he was around her, her mother and sister hated her.

So, one year to get Lily to fall in love with him, James mused. He'd do it. He'd get Lily to fall in love with him and dump that Harry boy.


	2. Chapter 2

It was not an easy task. Whenever he spoke to Lily, she still refused a date. Some nights he'd hear he talk to a boy through the floo network, and even a few occasions it seemed a boy would Disaperate just as he went to check on Lily and the voices.

But something changed near Christmas. He asked Lily about her plans, and they had changed.

"Yeah, I'm going home," she told him as she packed. She'd have to move her and her brother into the new house, so why not now? "What's so strange about that?"

James was leaned up against the doorframe to her room, pushing up his ever-falling glasses. "Well, you were so adamant not to go home. It's odd. What's changed?"

She smiled as she turned towards the door. But instead of making James move, she stood before him. "My friend Matt is coming to visit. Then Yu and her boyfriend Chang are coming for Christmas. We're going to have a huge party at my house."

He was confused. "When I become a transexual with a boyfriend?"

"Huh?"

"You said 'You and her boyfriend.' I'm not girl," he told her.

Lily laughed. He loved the sound of that. "No, you idiot. Daiyu. My best friend. She and her boyfriend are coming to visit. There going to spend the holiday with me. You, however, James, won't. You don't even know where I live, which is the first common sense thing. You couldn't just figure I wasn't talking about you?"

The girl was confusing him. "Yu, Daiyu or you, me?"

Sighing, she gave him a peck on the cheek and walked out the door. "See you next year James!" she called back into her dorm as she left.

Next year? They were seventh-years! There'd never be a next year! Wait a… "Ha ha. Next year. When school comes back from vacation," James said to himself.

Suddenly he watched Lily rush back into their Common Room with Dumbledore on her heels. It was a funny sight, and he couldn't help laughing. Which he paid for dearly when he found his pants had disappeared and he was left in Snitch-covered boxers.

"Miss Evans, Mr. Potter! So good to see you. Not already packed, are we?" Dumbledore asked, smiling as he sat down on the sofa before the fire, ignoring James's pantlessness. "We have one last thing to do before you're dismissed for the holidays."

"What's that?" James asked obediently, sidling down to a seat next to Lily on another sofa.

He smiled, his eyes crinkling. "You two need to plan a welcome-back party."

* * *

Lily sighed, her unpacking finally being done. The house wasn't bigger than she was used to, but it was decent-sized and took a lot of unpacking.

Matt knocked on the doorframe and walked in, putting an arm around her shoulder. "Evans-Two, it looks great. Harry should've helped though. I don't know how he gets off being alone while we all come visit his sister and his house."

Dismissing it, Lily turned and hugged Matt. This was perfect! "Hey, I have a favor I need done."

"Anything," he promised, spinning her and letting her down, grabbing her hand to take a walk around Godric's Hollow. "I'd give you the world."

"How about a concert at Hogwarts?" she asked, bumping into his side.

Godric's Hollow was beautiful, and with the snow falling it was even more magical than its residents. Off to the side was a cemetery and a house that her neighbor, Mrs. Bagshot, already told her belonged to the Dumbledores.

"Only if you sing with us," he replied, staring at the falling snow. "When and why do you want one?"

"The week after we get back. Dumbledore wants us to have a Welcome Back party. And if I have to sing, I'll just find another band to ask," she told him, looking away.

She doubted her voice. Understandable with a brother whose voice was golden and admired by both muggles and the wizarding world.

Matt hugged her closer as they came to a cemetery. Ariana Dumbledore and her mother were buried here, and Lily had said she wanted to pay respect to her headmaster's family.

He didn't understand Lily Evans. She was perhaps the best singer Matt ever heard, but she was self-conscious to a fault. Hell, if Harry could sing like that they'd hit triple platinum faster than a month. But then, Harry wasn't much help. He tried to teach his sister singing, which resulted in critiquing everything from stance to clothes, but never voice.

James Potter was there, staring at his ancestors' grave. His father had given him an Invisibility Cloak, and said it had been passed down since his ancestor Ignotus Peverell bested Death for it. It was an old fairy tale, really.

But after awhile, he turned and walked towards Ariana Dumbledore's grave. As a child, his grandfather had been friends with the Dumbledores, a good friend of Aberforth Dumbledore, and brought James to Ariana and Kendra's grave often.

Standing right there before it, however, was Lily Evans and a boy that looked like Matt Jameson from the Marauders. "Evans?" James asked, dubious.

"Potter?" she asked as she turned around, shocked to hear his voice. "What are you doing here?"

Suddenly Remus and Sirius Apparated. "James!" Sirius yelled jumping onto his friend and messed with his hair as Remus chose to shake his head at their antics. "All right! We were right you'd be here! We're already set up at your house. Come--Evans?"

"Black? Hey, Lupin. What's going on?" Lily asked as she detangled herself from Matt's friendly embrace.

"Well, Miss Evans. I live in Godric's Hollow," James replied. "Now why are you here?"

"Harry and I just moved in near the Bagshots. Well, I moved in," she amended, shrugging it off. "Harry's off in America again without caring that I wanted to see him," she finished, tightening her jaw.

She knew why he was there. He had to be with a girl. He was always with a girl it seemed. Jerk.

Why didn't he get they were siblings--flesh and blood? They should be closer than she was with Matt. Or at least talk to each other when they were both sober! Was that too much to ask for? Apparently yes.

"Cool! So you're the new neighbors! Why don't you live with your muggle-parents instead of your boyfriend?" James asked, confused. Lily was living with a boyfriend. Serious, but didn't sound committed if he didn't show for the holidays. James still stood a chance.

"Evans-Two? I'm going to go back to the house. Have fun with your friends, but not the same kind of fun I have, got it?"

"Jameson, I never knew you shagged guys," she teased, making James's eyes bulge. She was going to shag him? Day of the gods! "Don't worry. They're just Potter and Black. Lupin's a good guy, though. Remus, this is--" Lily started, only to have a hand cover her mouth.

"Zip. Your. Lip. Daiyu and Chang should be here soon. You'll laugh at what their planning on naming their kids. Cho for a girl and Dingxiang for a boy. Choo choo and Ding-a-ling." he laughed shaking his head as Matt kept his face turned towards the ground. "Those two are too Chinese for their good."

She smiled, dragging her tongue across her front teeth and resting it on the right tooth before the incisor, as was her childhood habit. "At least they have fun. You're just jealous that girl broke up with you again, aren't you? Who was this one? You date Japanese. Let me try…Azami. No, that'd be a cool name. Emi?"

But before she got an answer, he Disapparated with a crack. Sighing, Lily dropped her head and faced the younger Marauders again. It always happened. People would leave without saying goodbye. Daiyu never said goodbye, Harry never said goodbye, Petunia and her mother certainly didn't, and she hadn't seen her father since that summer when he didn't say goodbye when she left for the train station.

Feeling a tap on her shoulder, she looked up to see Peter had joined the group and Remus was tapping on her shoulder. "You okay, Lily? You look like--"

"I'm fine. Just a little homesick is all," she replied, faking a smile. Well, family and home tied together.

"Evans, how can you be homesick? It's right down the street!" James complained, ushering a hand towards the street. "Which house anyways? And why aren't you living with you parents instead of your boyfriend? That's a little weird."

"The baby-blue mansion," she replied, nonchalant while James gasped.

To her, it was nothing. She was always in mansions. But James didn't understand how a muggle-born was able to afford a mansion at Godric's Hollow.

"I don't even have a boyfriend. Jameson's like a brother. And Harry is strangely enough my brother. So where do you live?"

Peter smiled. "Lily's going to live around here? That's so cool! James lives--"

"Peter, shut it!" Sirius yelled, slapping a hand over his mouth. "As much as we'd love to stay and chat, we have official Marauders business. You wouldn't understand, seeing as you aren't a Marauder."

James was too stunned to speak. Harry was her brother? Than why was she a muggle-born? How did her brother move her into a mansion at Godric's Hollow? That wasn't jealousy he had been feeling, either. He was just feeling…Nope. Until she cleared up that it was only her brother, he was jealous.

"I'll be one someday," she replied, snorting.

Now James looked at her confused. "You want to be a Marauder?"

She rolled her eyes. "Don't want, will be. Harry and Jameson are making me…Do you guys want to come to my Christmas party? My dad might stop by, and Daiyu and Chang are coming. Tonks and her family are--"

Sirius cut her off, releasing Peter. "Who's Chang?"

Eyes popped out, Lily laughed it off. "Daiyu's fiancé. They've been together since he was a seventh-year and their the cutest two you'll ever meet. And of course I need James to help me plan the Welcome Back. I have some ideas, and we need to talk."

Back to business. James rubbed his hands together. "I was thinking of entertainment."

"If it involves pranks, jokes, or you little kissing booth fantasy, we can't do it," she warned before he spoke further into the subject. "In case you were paying attention to something other than Dumbledore, he put limits up."

"That's okay. I was thinking about booking the Marauders. They're going to be around on tour. What do you think? The band went to Hogwarts with us--"

It was Lily's turn to interject, finishing his sentence. "While we were entering in first-year they were in their seventh. Yes, I know. And they're already booked. By the…they'll be here on tour?"

James nodded. "And guess who has front row seats. Want to be my date?"

Rolling her eyes, Lily replied, "No. I have better seats already."

"You didn't even know about the concert," Sirius protested. "Besides, what's better than front row?"

Suddenly the mirror in her back pocket sang the Marauders' song, "Not Listening," and Lily took it out of her pocket, smirking. "Backstage."

Harry's face popped on, Lily obscuring it from the younger boys' eyes. If they knew her brother was Harry Evans of the Marauders, they'd flip. Harry was her most-guarded secret. He smiled and waved a fist with his pinky and thumb outstretched. "Aloha!"

"My ass, aloha. Where are…Hawaii? Why aren't you here for the holidays? You promised you'd be here for the holidays, and _not_ perpetually drunk around me for at least three days straight."

"Why would I come? Tuney's an ass that hates me, Mum's insane, and you and Dad aren't really a good enough reason to battle the snow. But, you know the drill. How many do you want? And Yu doesn't count, either. Siyu already gave her a lifetime pass. So…seven? Twenty? Take your pick, I owe you. Actually, I owe you more by now. Shit."

"Let's see…Frank and Alice of course, Tonks--"

"Tonks?" he asked, laughing.

"What's wrong with Tonks?" she demanded, getting mad. It shocked James that this girl held a temper and defended her friends to her brother. Still, he should have expected it, what with her being a redhead and all. She was still such a mystery to him.

"Nothing. Tonks is just a funny name for a girl. Keep going. Frank, Alice, Tonks, you…"

"Okay…do you guys want to come?" she asked.

James was shocked. "Sure."

While Sirius and Remus nodded, Peter made up an excuse. Shrugging, Lily tallied it up. "So, Frank, Alice, Tonks, me, Remus, James, Sirius, and three extra for dates? Ten tickets. Wait! One for Frank's sister too. Have you seen her lately?"

Harry thumbs-upped her and jotted it down. "Nope. I haven't seen Betty in ages. Is that all? What do you want while I'm here?"

"You know, even Matt is here visiting. I'd expect my own flesh and blood to come. Especially since you were the one that moved us out of Draconic in the first place. I liked it there. Matt and Daiyu both lived right there. Have fun with your life."

Sighing he looked pointedly at Lily. "I'll get the tickets to Matt to give to you. And we have to keep moving, I told you! Voldemort wants to kill muggle-born, then squibs, then half-born. Guess we are on that chain? Everyone assumes we're muggle-born!"

"All I have to say is _bring it_. He goes after me and he won't have a roll-over. Harry, I really _will_ fight. I'm not as weak and pathetic as you think I am."

James started to listen. She wasn't muggle-born? She had to be. What else could she be? Squib-born? Yeah right. He never heard of two squibs getting married and having wizarding kids. Two squibs marrying, yes. But never had a wizardng child been produced.

But then the conversation ended, Lily smiling as she put the mirror away. "See? Backstage. I don't know why I didn't get my tickets earlier, but I'm backstage for every Marauders concert I want. Harry owes me the tickets."

"Really?" Sirius retorted incredulously. "He owes you? Who is he? The Marauder Harry Evans? Like he'd get you backstage for every concert. You'd have to be rich, or know someone."

"Well, I'm both. And yes. Do you guys want to come over? It's cold."

"Do you need help moving in?" James asked, following her like a dog, which Sirius should be doing.

Lily shook her head. "No. That's why Jameson came. He always helps me pack and un-pack. Harry makes us move a lot. He's just a jerk. He's six years older and ten-times the nuisance the Second Generation Marauders will ever be." She turned to him. "That's you by the way."

Laughing, James put his arm around Lily's waist and walked with her, smiling when she didn't pull away. "So have I ever met your brother? Six years. He'd have been a seventh-year the first year we were there? Did you know that guy you're with looks a lot like Matt Jameson from the Marauders?"

For a minute she panicked. Shit! No one was supposed to know! "Really? He gets that a lot. Especially since his last name is Jameson. But then, if he was Matt Jameson than I'd be Harry Evans's little sister."

Suddenly James laughed. "Good point. You could never be Harry's little sister."

As they walked on in silence, Lily inwardly sighed in relief. It was always good to go with the bluff first and then work out. Man, Matt was going to owe her for this one!

Wait. Why couldn't she be her brother's sister? How dense was James?

* * *

"Jameson, where are you?" Lily yelled as she opened the door to the house, James pushing past her. "If you're hiding, it's not my fault if your _Hustler_ magazine is thrown out."

"No!" Matt yelled, running out of a illusionary wall and picking Lily up before hauling her over his left shoulder. "You can't touch that magazine. My future wife is in it! You will not touch--"

"Shut the fucka up!" she yelled. She never swore quite right around Matt. Hell became hella, shit became shitta. It was part of who they were. "Jameson, did I ever tell you that you really, really, really badly need to screw a girl? Get you past that illusion of marrying China Chow, okay?"

Matt shrugged, taking something out of his back-pocket. "Whatever. Harry stopped by. Got your tickets for the concert. Explain why you're not more pissed-off at him. Hell, I feel like beating the shit out of him, and I'm not even his relative. Your brother has no dignity, and when he finally decides to make his royal entrances he's always drunk!"

"Because, Harry will be Harry. No matter what, I have to accept that. Besides, what's better? Talking to him when he's sober over the mirrors, or when he's perpetually drunk around me? It'll even out eventually. Everything's always even with Evans, Jameson. You have to have realized that by now."

"Just because you say eventually, doesn't mean it'll even out before it's too late. Anyways, Yu and Chang should be here in an hour or so. Do you need any help with decorations?"

"Duh. Why do you think I bring you with me? I'm not about to hang up all the decorations by myself the muggle-way. I grew up that way for way too long," Lily replied, taking the tickets and walking towards a closet. Heaving the box, she took it from the closet and placed it down in a thud in front of Matt. "Have fun."

James just stood there in awe. Jameson looked so, _so_ much like Matt Jameson of the Marauders. He had worshipped the ground the Marauders had walked on all when they were in school. Even back then, they were known for their amazing pranks and ingenious musical talent.

Suddenly he felt his shirt being tugged and found himself face to face with Lily.

As he stood there frozen, Sirius stood in awe as he watched Matt take out his wand and silently put up the decorations. Twirling the wand like an expert, he turned to come face to face with a pissed Lily. "Grow up, Lils. Godric's Hollow is a wizarding community. You can, in fact, use magic freely around here."

She pouted and stomped her foot. "That's not fair! This is probably the first house we've moved to that doesn't have at least two muggle families nearby. It was the Dursley family up when we lived with Mum and Dad, the Clearwater squib's family in Draconic, the Crestons next door in Peverell. God, right off my head."

Sirius stood there, mouth agape, before finally finding his voice. "You lived in wizarding communities? I thought you were a muggle-born! How can muggle-born live in rich wizarding communities? Are you screwing some rich wizard behind dear James's back?"

"What?" Lily shrieked. "I'd never screw anyone behind James's back--I'm not even dating James!"

"Lils and screw?" Matt laughed. "Only if that means screw-drivers. Lily hasn't even been kissed, I don't think. But nice idea. Maybe I should hang around your friends more often. They seem to know more about you than I do nowadays."

Lily rolled her eyes. "Please. What day do I have my period?"

"Every thirty-one days to the mark, happens at night and lasts…oh, I get it," Matt replied.

"See? No one can know me as well as you do--I don't even know myself that well. Why do you think I don't even mark the damn thing on the calendar?"

"No wonder why you're so hissy--it's coming up soon! You have the longest PMS-time ever! Even my cousin Rachel has less PMS-time."

Lily slapped her head and sighed. Matt's cousin Rachel wasn't technically even his cousin. It was his cousin's cousin, and Morgan wasn't a very close-relative either at second-cousins. What was he doing paying such close attention to Rachel's period?

James started to feel a little more than uncomfortable with the possible-gay and Lily. How was it she was comfortable with this? Here he was always thinking Lily was such a normal girl. She hung out with a gay man that resembled one of his idols. It could not get any weirder.

"So, how are you and that girl?" Lily asked.

"Fucking until last week. Now I need something else to screw. Hey, Lily…" Matt replied.

Now James almost choked. Did she screw with this guy? No wonder she could get along with him. He was gay and she was a slut!

"Forget it, Dickhead. The only friend I have at present that's single is a fifth-year. That's so jailbait. And as much as I wouldn't mind, think about what the drunkard would say. Besides, I'm too hot for you," she teased.

Matt laughed. He had no clue how he and Lily had been so close, but he wouldn't trade it for the world. It was fun, to have someone to talk to about everything and anything. She was the coolest kid he ever met, and never would Matt wish she was someone else.

"Please. I'm too hot for you, Lily. I mean, look at me."

James watched in horror as the two…flirted. Was she really doing this? Breaking his heart right in front of him? Couldn't she wait until he left to flirt with the guy?

Lily, however, was oblivious to James's thoughts. "What? You want to go?"

Of all the dumb…well, it was Lily. "Yeah, let's go! Right now," Matt replied.

Suddenly she stuck out her arm and he locked his arm with hers. "Okay. Let's go buy some dolls," they chorused, laughing and smiling as they disengaged arms.

"Lily? Have I told you yet that I miss it when your away from us? Maybe you can drop-out and--"

"You tried that over summer, and several times over the year already. I'm going, and I'm going to prove I'm just as good as everyone else," Lily warned. "Harry can't be the genius in the family. Especially when I think I'm just as good as him. And at the same things, too."

"Believe me, Lils, you are definitely better than Harry. That guy has a stick up his ass, and the best little sister ever. I swear, you need a family that's normal," Matt replied, just as serious as Lily. "And having me doesn't count. Your dad and you, sometimes Harry? That's not a family. Tiny Tune and your mum should be supportive like a real family instead of jealous. Your dad's in the same spot and he's nothing but proud his daughter can do magic."

Then she looked at the clock. This was taking a nasty turn fast. "Yu should really be here by now. I hope she's okay."

"Sorry to break up this very interesting talk," Sirius interrupted. "Didn't you have other matters to talk about? Like, the dance, and the band you two are hiring? Why are the Marauders already booked?"

"Because I booked them. Next matter. Is it going to be a theme dance, or the food, what time?" Lily prodded.

James perked up. Lily was talking to him again. And she booked his favorite band already! She really was amazing. The most amazing witch he had ever met. "I say it should start with a formal dinner--it seems classier. Then we can have an all-out dance. In the corner we can use the Slytherin table to serve snacks, and we could plaster it in--"

"The school colors," Lily finished, shooting him a warning look. "We can't have a Gryffindor party for the whole school! It's not fair to the Ravenclaw. Or Hufflepuff."

Matt sighed as the two started to argue, he flopped back onto a couch Peter and Remus had long ago inhabited. He smiled and watched the fire, waiting for Chang and Daiyu to appear. They were supposed to be here by now.

Suddenly, another Marauders' song started play--"Do or Die"--and Lily whipped out the mirror, cutting James off. "Siyu? Daiyu?"

"Heyo, Lily Flower!" Siyu greeted. "We were just wondering if you wanted us to bring you dad with us. I have big news for you guys too."

"Of course bring my dad! I miss him. What's the news?" Lily replied.

"We're getting married!" Daiyu squealed, waving to her friend as she crowded next to Siyu.

"Old news. Unless you mean you and my dad, in which case ew."

Daiyu laughed. It was so great to hear Lily's fast-remarks again. "No, silly. I mean, we're getting married…over winter break. We'll be married in Godric's, just a few witnesses. We really want to get married Lily. Please don't be mad we didn't wait another half a year. It's just…" Daiyu started.

"No problem, Yu. When's the thing due?" Lily replied.

"Not quite sure. We think I'm pregnant. How is it that you knew that?" Daiyu asked.

James was really getting tired of this ignoring him thing. And Lily knew a pregnant girl? What the hell?

Lily shrugged it off. She knew Daiyu for years and she still didn't get it? "You're my best friend, Yu. I know if you weren't pregnant, you'd wait that rest of the year. But now I'm excited. Boy or girl do you think?"

In an instant Lily realized the mirror was no longer in her hand and Matt had started to walk up the stairs with it. As he talked to Siyu and Daiyu, Lily scowled at his retreating form. Great! Now she was stuck talking to Potter and the Mini Marauders!

"Jerk! Wanker! That's my best friend there!" she yelled up, only getting a laugh in return. "See if your _Hustler _makes it out of this house in one piece!"


	3. Chapter 3

"How long can you stay mad at me? I already apologized for stealing the mirror like a thousand times!" Matt whined, almost an hour later.

"Dude, how long have you known me? Whine to me again when you hit a million apologies. When have you ever known me to just be fine after a thousand? Have you ever seen one of my grudges? Really, I thought you knew me better than that!" she replied.

Sirius laughed and smiled at the two as he leaned back in a plush black recliner with that massage-thing built in. "Dude, you can't know Lily that well. This girl has held a grudge against James and I since first years on the train to school."

Crap. Sirius had to open his mouth. Lily turned to look at Matt, who gave her _that_ face. The one that meant she was in trouble.

Shit.

Peter must have recognized the face, and tried to turn them back to the party. It was a valiant attempt, but Matt wouldn't budge. He just gave Lily _that_ face, and brushed Peter off. Except for his rambling, their was no sound at the moment. Everyone was waiting on Matt to speak.

"There were boys in your compartment?" he asked, dead-set.

Lily gave a half-hearted attempt at a laugh before giving up and glared at Sirius. "You had to open your trap. Jameson…it was just for a few minutes. Then I left with Severus to go see Frank, and Tom caught us and had a word with Severus. Remember?"

Matt looked seriously for a second before, dropping into a disappointed sigh. "Damn, Lily. You got my hopes up you'd find someone, and then you just crashed them back down. Thank Merlin you don't hang out with that sniveling brat anymore."

In that second, Lily whizzed around to see James and Sirius give each other a look and high-five each other, yelling out, "Snivelous forever!"

She turned again to see Matt's eyes dancing in amusement. She wondered how the new Marauders ever figured out that was Severus's nickname as a child, given by her brother and his friends--namely Matt. It always amazed her how they were all so in-tuned with each other.

"I hate you," she told Matt.

He smiled. "I know. But that guy started problems and you know it! You and Tiny Tune were so close until Severus showed up. And what about all the fights, and all the 'mudblood' shit, and his _I want to be Slytherin _attitude. He was a bull-ass friend, and you know it."

"Whatever. He never called me a muddy, so whatever. When he did, I stopped talking to him, and hanging out with him, and--"

"_He called you a mudblood and all you did was stop hanging out with him_?" Matt yelled, scaring the room. "First of all, you aren't a mudblood, as many times as it's explained to you. Lily, if I had been you--a girl and all--I so would have _castrated_ Snot-Nosed Snape. Guys feel too bad about ripping each other's balls out, but you could have--"

"_Pass!" _she shrieked, laughing. "Touching those two inches? _Please. _These hands are still being saved for someone better than the boys at _Hogwarts. _Maybe when you guys go there finally, I can meet the guys from Durmstram. The other school in the Tri-Wizard Tournament."

"Dream on," Matt replied, rolling his eyes. "Hogwarts boys are the best of the best. Harry and Ritter and Chang and…the Weasleys Hank Weasley is my age, his brother Arthur two years ahead or something, they had a sister, and I think Patrick was the year before you, or your year…We all went to Hogwarts!"

"And that's supposed to sell Hogwarts's case to me?" she teased. "Look at what you're supporting it with. You ain't that special. And you know what these _other guys _look like. _Awkward. _Do you all wank off together or something?"

"Damn it. I knew I should have shut my door when I was wanking off to Barbie," he teased back, getting an interesting effect. "At least you never saw when I was having Happy Time with a picture of you I took when I stalked you."

James's jaw dropped and Remus laughed behind his hand. Sirius started to choke on a crumpet, which only led to Remus laughing even harder and having tea come out of his nose. Peter's face turned very red and James just looked back and forth between Lily and Matt before helping Sirius stop choking.

Finally, he got the joke and started laughing just as uncontrollably as Remus. A Brick-red Peter went and fetched Remus a napkin to clean up.

"All right, now get back to work," Matt said, smiling. "But Lily? Don't take any shit, okay? Just because you're parents can't do magic, doesn't mean you should take it from those whose parents can."

"Don't worry, Jameson," she said, smiling softly. "I don't take shit. From you, or Harry, or anyone. End of case, no sequel, no exceptions. It's my life."

"_Atta _girl!" he replied, smiling and hugging her, giving her a noogie.

* * *

"Lily?" someone asked from the fireplace almost an hour later.

Said girl shot up from the couch where she had been planning the party with James, with occasional input from Sirius, Remus and Peter. A man was standing there, looking weary but happy. He was older, at least in his fifties, with bright orange hair only starting to grey around the edges.

James looked at him impressed. For an old dude, he wasn't fat--on the other hand, he was quite fit, and the glasses he sported even made him seem scholarly. Then the man noticed the group of boys in Lily's house.

"Daddy!" Lily shrieked, hopping up and running to him, hugging him so tightly Sirius was sure she broke her father's ribs. And yet the man lifted her and swung her around like she was nothing. "Daddy, put me down! I can't believe you came!" she squealed.

As Daiyu made her way out of the Floo network, she smiled at the scene. Daiyu had only known Lily for the few years they went to school together, and yet she felt for her like a sister. This was what Lily was always missing--a family, and time to spend with them.

"Of course I would, Sweetheart!" her father replied, smiling as he put her down. It was sad to say, but he had to admit in almost half a year, his little daughter had grown up. She had gotten friends, and wasn't as nervous in her skin. "How have you been?"

"Fine! Matt checked up on me all during school, and Harry even visited me two or three times. This year's so much fun--I'm planning a dance with James…Oh, Daddy, this is James, by the way. James Potter."

"Potter, eh?" he asked, squinting at James as he put his hand out to shake. "Nice to meet you, my boy. You wouldn't be Harold Potter's son, would you? He lives around here, I think. Knew him as a kid, great wizard."

Now James was confused. Lily…Dad. Lily…muggle-born. Lily's dad…muggle-community. No way to know wizards. James…Dad. James…pure-wizard. James's dad…wizarding communities. "I'm sorry, sir, but I think you may be confused."

However, Lily had cut in. "No way! He's Harold's son? He can't be! Mr. Potter looks nothing like him--I thought Mr. Potter was nice, too. James is nothing like Harold! Besides, you were always telling me Mr. Potter had such a brilliant and nice son. James ain't him."

Did his father work with any muggles? No, so it wasn't like he was talking to one of his father's business associates. So how _did_ they know his dad?

"James Potter. Sounds right to me. James, do you happen to live nearby? I think the house number's 54."

"Daddy, I can't believe you don't remember his address!" Lily shrieked, amused. "Harold's house is number 61. He hasn't moved from that house since longer than I was born. Even I remembered! The last time I ever went over I was four or five and it was a Christmas party."

How the hell did Lily know his address? James was freaked out now. She knew where he lived--been over his house. What the hell? He was supposed to be obsessed with her. Not the other freakin' way around! And even he wasn't that obsessed.

Matt clapped his hands together and slapped his head. "That's where you were! You refused to tell me where you went that break. I didn't talk to you for a week! You were over the Potters'? Why didn't you just say that? Harry and I came home and you guys weren't there."

She shrugged. "Mom had us leave early so we could get out of the community fast. That one hates when wizards can place her. Besides, May Kingsley had her daughter and I go out shopping, and I spent break with Matilda because May was at St. Mungo's with Mr. Kingsley. And I wasn't spending vacation with that drunkard! Pass!" Lily protested. "He's your best friend. My worst enemy."

Wait. Wasn't that her boyfriend? Now James was confused.

"Lils, ixne on the unkdre with your adday in the oomre," Daiyu warned, making Lily laugh at her. "So what's this about knowing the Potters? No offense, but you didn't act like you knew James back when we were in school together. Care to enlighten?"

"Whatever. I don't know James. And the room is awkwardly silent right now, considering who's in here right now," Lily replied, looking around. "Can we get some liveliness in here please? Sirius, do a prank on Siyu or somethi--Yu, where's Siyu?"

The girl laughed and hugged her friend. "He's with Harry right now. He'll be right here once he sobers your brother up enough to come here. Now, where's the music? Sweetie, can't rock without the roll."

As Lily conjured up music, James noticed her father swell with pride and hug her again. Actually, he _was_ a bit familiar to James. How did he know this guy?

Sirius got up and started to dance like a robot, and made Peter watch before trying to imitate him. Matt and Daiyu hooked up the television and karaoke, Guitar Hero 3 and Wii. James was fascinated by the objects, and Lily laughed. "It's muggle stuff."

"Are they from muggle families?" James asked.

"No, actually. Matt's dad and mine were third cousins or something, but they were close, so Uncle Alfred moved next to us in a muggle community. Daiyu lived in Ireland with a bunch of witches when she was little, but her parents are both wizards. It was like a nunnery."

"How do they know so much about muggle stuff then--Matt's your cousin? You two don't act like it. You act more like--"

"Friends?" she finished, looking at him and smiling. For some reason James looked so handsome in the lighting…"It's distant enough that we're barely even cousins, but he's as close to me as a brother. He and I are the best friends you'll ever meet."

"Sirius is a better friend."

"No. My brother, Harry? He tries to push me out of his life. But he's stuck with Matt, and Matt shoves me back at him. Matt's the best. He can actually get me to do stuff I don't want to do. Like eat vegetables when I was a kid, and sin--simulate an actually decent conversation with Harry most days."

Harry was her brother. James didn't know why but he was so happy Harry was only her brother that he let slip the fact she was going to say something before simulate. "Is he going to be your date to the dance?" he asked. "Because I would love to take someone like you."

She smiled apologetically. "I'm going stag. There are conditions to me getting the Marauders, and I feel like bringing a date is cruel to them."

"That's okay. You're always cruel to me, Lily."

"James--"

"How did you know where I live?" James asked, cutting her off. "I'm number 61. Do I know your family at all in any way?"

Lily froze and her eyes widened. "You really are Harold Potter's son?" She was shocked. "You're that boy that was so polite to me after I left England that year? This is just my freakin' luck. Matt! Will you help me with a very important charm, please?"

He looked up and cursed as he missed a chord on Guitar Hero 3. He played on hard, and after all these years of playing a guitar he was a pro. "What charm, and can it wait?" he asked.

"I want to forget some of my past--can I play?" she asked. The song ended and she grabbed the extra guitar and put it to battle-mode. As she played against Matt, she talked. "I want t forget the Christmas I spent with the Potters. Who would have guessed James really is Harold's son?"

"Ah, hello? Didn't I say he was the first day of Hogwarts when I had to bring you all to the common room? Did you think I was pointing out a likeness?" he asked.

James cleared his throat and Lily turned to look at him, hitting the next chord and the following combination. "What? I was just kidding," she said, smiling. She thought he was mad about getting her memory erased. "I'd be a fool to really expect Matt to alter my memory correctly."

"Hey!" he complained, hitting the next combination and noticing she was beating him by a few hundred. Lily wasn't even looking for crying out loud! Did somebody hate him or something? He would admit, she was good, but come on!

"Dude, remember when you were supposed to correct Harry's memory over summer just after you were of age? You ended up obliterating Tuney's too, and the Ministry of Magic had to come in and get the memories back. You never did fix Harry's memory." Suddenly the song ended and she turned back to the game. "Oh, cool! I beat you. _I_ beat _you_ by almost a thousand points!" she cheered, taunting him. "Yes!"

He frowned. "Rematch!" he ordered, starting over with a new song.

Lily beat him twice more before shoving him off to teach James and Sirius how to play, and watched as they played several rounds. Then she went to Remus and brought him over to the Wii. When he got the hang of it, Daiyu and Matt challenged them to a tennis match.

The boys joined them, and Peter laughed as he went to change the song to a Marauders CD. _Bites Another_, it was called. A song came on, and Peter smiled.

"_Hold your head up high, you're never wrong, somewhere in the right, you belong_," Daiyu sang along to the song, smiling and nudging Lily. It came off to the others as a joke to get Lily to miss her volley--which didn't work--but Lily knew better.

Why? She sang "Nobody's Wins" on the CD. And now it was being tested in front of the entire group. Did anyone know that was her? Crap. Please don't recognize her voice.

"Wormtail! Turn that song off. It's dreadful to listen to!" James yelled, screwing up a chord. "See? I'm already screwing up to it!"

The room started to reverberate and Lily groaned. She knew what song was coming up now. And there was no way to avoid the secret getting out--she and Matt still belted it out whenever they heard their duet, and surely they'd recognize Matt when they heard him live. He didn't sound that different in real life.

"_What have you done now_?" he yelled, her father thinking quick and turning up the volume. "Dude, I love this song!" Matt yelled over the noise.

Lily nudged him and gave him a pointed look to be silent. "You are such a jerk sometimes!" she yelled, laughing as he shoved her halfway across the room. "Break Point!" she yelled, winning the point from the distracted Matt.

They laughed and she, Matt, and Daiyu laughed through an hour, teasing each other and drinking butterbeers. James and Sirius gave up on Guitar Hero and Remus and Peter took over. While Sirius went to join the group, James went over to Mr. Evans, thinking to get a little quality-time with his future-father-in-law.

"You aren't Harold's boy then? You look so like him," Mr. Evans said.

"Actually, I am. How do you know my dad?" James asked. Well, kill two birds with one stone. Lily never did get around to tell him. "How can a muggle come into a wizard community?"

He laughed. "I like you, son. Head on your shoulders. Lily never told you? I'm a squib. Your dad and I grew up next door to each other. We work together in the Ministry, but don't tell Lily's mum. I told her that I work a muggle-job. Accounting, I think it was."

James's jaw dropped. "No. She never mentioned it. I…honestly, I never believed a squib could have a witch for a daughter. Sorry--you're Uncle Larry?" he asked, shocked.

He smiled. "Yes, sir. And I don't just have a witch. I have a wizard, too. Lily's older brother Harry started showing magic the same time as Lily. She was three, so he must have been…seven or eight. Always been a bit wild and out of hand. Then there's the middle child, her sister Petunia. She's a squib still, sadly."

Funny. It sounded to James like Lawrence Evans was still proud to have a squib. No one liked squibs. And he meant nobody.

"So…Lily's been to my house. How come I don't remember her?" he asked, confused still.

And yet, this was a positive. If their dads were friends, that meant they had to deal with each other sometimes. He could monopolize on those, and even use them to keep her connected to him when they left Hogwarts.

Mr. Evans shrugged. "You were young. Lily probably only remembers because she's too smart for her own good."

James laughed. "I think you and I could be friends."

"No chance, sonny-boy. I love my daughter. She's my pride and joy--the laughter in my life. I think we'd be more like enemies. We're both vying for the _numero uno_ position in her heart. And, buddy, I don't plan to give that spot up to any boy any time soon."

Lily laughed and swatted at her dad. "Daddy, no one can take _numero uno_ from you--especially Potter. He has about as good a chance at taking it as Mr. Dursley. Go fight with Jameson about it. You're tied with him right now." She turned and screamed. "Sirius, put it away! We don't need for the house to go up in flames the first night here."

"But Lily Flower! I just want to show your friend here I can create fireworks!" Sirius protested, waving his wand around.

"I don't care if you can make an elephant appear and stand on a teacup. I'll give you fireworks if you don't stop waving your wand around," she yelled, only to get pulled back in a hug while being spun in the air. "Chang!"

"Lily!" Siyu yelled, letting her go. "Where's Yu?"

Sirius looked at James and James shrugged. He had no clue what was going on.

"Chang! You made it. I was wondering when you'd get here. Yu's in the spare room. How's my godchild-to-be?" she asked. Eventually he put her down and she gave him a peck on both cheeks and smiled. "Hi, how are you?"

"I'm good. Yu talked to the doctor. They're still not sure she's pregnant, but we have to take responsibility for it. She'll be in labor around the beginning of November. If she is in fact pregnant."

Lily gushed and walked with Siyu to Daiyu. Suddenly there was a laugh, and everyone turned to see Mr. Evans hugging a boy with flaming red hair. They started to walk out the door, and Lily ran up to them. "Wait. Dad! Harry!"

James watched as the men paid no mind to her and walked outside. Lily looked disappointed, and even ran outside after them with no jacket on. When she opened the door James could see the snow falling out in Godric's Hollow. "Dad! Harry! Wait!"

Ten minutes later in a silent house, Matt excused himself to go out and find them. He came back five minutes later with a shivering Lily in his arms and a sad look on both their faces. Mr. Evans and the elusive Harry were nowhere to be seen.

"Matt, what the hell just happened?" Daiyu asked.

He shook his head sadly and kissed the top of Lily's head as he set her down on the couch next to James and covered her in a blanket. "What always happens? She's chasing after a dream again. I don't get what it is with her and Harry. What the fuck Harry's deal is. His little sister is following him into a fucking blizzard, and he doesn't even stop for her."

James gaped. "What?"

Siyu snorted and pet Lily's head. "Get used to it, kid. If you like Lily, you have to get used to seeing her get abused. She gets pushed to the back of her brother's mind, and she tries so hard to make him proud of her. She thinks it's her fault, when really Harry's just an ass."

"Just?" Daiyu asked, incredulous. "Just an ass would be forgetting a birthday or two, or not making it on a holiday and not caring. A fuck-up is more like it. He's always drunk when he sees Lily, avoids her every holiday, birthday, and summer vacation, and treats her like she's just a kid when she's probably seen more dark magic than Dippit."

Chang laughed. "I know I shouldn't laugh at a dead guy, but Dippit was a blockhead."

Daiyu rolled her eyes and got James to bring Lily up to her bedroom. He set her down and looked around. It was a lavender color that he never would've guessed she liked. The duvet was iridescent with different hues of purple and blue. The wood was a light color and her bookcase was stuffed with books of various sorts.

He pulled back the duvet and placed her under it and put it back up. She was still shivering, and he was worried she might have hypothermia. Then she screamed and sat up straight, panting.

James yelled downstairs for Matt, the only of her friends that her knew, and hugged her and she started to cry. When Matt ran upstairs, James was hugging her and patting her head. Matt walked to her side and stroked her back. "Lily?"

"Harry?" Lily asked, looking at Matt. When she saw he wasn't her brother, she bent into James and cried. "Matt, I don't get it. Why does he hate me? I love my brother, and he hates my guts!"

Matt shushed her. "He doesn't hate you, sweetie. He doesn't. Harry's just a little slow. You of all people should know. Remember that time he went to visit you in New York and tried walking you back to your friend's apartment? The one you were staying with."

"Abigail?" Lily said, laughing. "He tripped on an ice patch and went flying down Time Square. Landed with a parking meter between his legs." She smiled and laughed again. "He didn't know what hit him, ended up sitting up and getting his tongue stuck to it."

James laughed softly. That was silly. "Feeling better, Evans?" he asked, politely.

She nodded, not screaming at him or pushing him away. "Much better now. Thanks," she said, blushing.

Matt knew what it was about, but he would tease her and mock confusion anyways. "You must be getting warm again. You're turning red--maybe you're getting too warm. Are you okay, Evans-Two? Do you need me to go get ice?"

If she wasn't stuck in bed, she would have shoved his face into the hardwood. Instead she smiled and looked at him sweetly. "Matt, I would like you to do me a favor," she said. "I want you to go outside, stick your head in the snow, and count to infinity."

He smirked. "But, Lily-dear, then I would die of hypothermia and frostbite would mangle my perfect body. How would you explain that to everyone?"

"I'd stick your corpse out. It'd be a huge improvement on how you look now," she shot. "And a lot more quiet. I mean, sure you'd be screwed up the ass about playing and talking and scoring the Japanese chicks you like, but I think they'd like how the corpse looks better than you."

Matt dropped his jaw. "Wow, Lily. You really are acting like a bitch towards me today. What's wrong? First you called me a gay-ass prude when I was _talking_ to my _girlfriend._ Then you decide I do _manual labor_, and yelled at me if things weren't just so. Are you feeling okay?"

"No," she replied, cuddling James's shoulder. "I've been sick since Hanukah season, and I've been physically sick for three days. I don't even celebrate Hanukah! Plus, I've been running a temperature of 40. So I'm sorry if I'm a bitch, but I just--what the hell?"

James wasn't quite sure what the point of not celebrating Hanukah was, but Lily didn't look so good. And 40 was pretty high.

Matt checked her temperature with his cheek, and jerked back, rubbing it. "Oh, shit. I can't believe you're okay. 42 is catatonic for most people. You could go catatonic at 40. What the hell were you thinking not going to St. Mungo's the second you got home? Or to the nurse's the second it hit 40?"

She shrugged and sat back in bed. "It's admitting I'm weak enough to succumb to a stupid cold. I'm well aware that I have a low body-temperature. I'm not going to pretend I have no clue. But I'm not about to let it dictate my life."

Matt snorted and picked Lily up. "Fine. You're acting stubborn and got sicker. Guess where you're going now?"

"But I hate St. Mungo's! Don't make me go--they wanted to hospitalize me! Can't we go to a normal hospital?" she screamed, getting dragged out of bed.

Matt rolled his eyes and silently asked James for help. He complied, and Matt Disapparated to St. Mungo's. "The only reason they tried to hospitalize you last time was because you were so sick you were delusional and swore a basilisk was trailing you."

"Which it was," she grit out. "Did you forget that they caught one while I was living in Draconic? Right down the street."

"Lily, it was a python. Not a basilisk. And it was your godfather's animagous. There wasn't any danger at all."

"You're completely ignoring the one in Draconic. Which I lived in at the time!" she yelled.

"Oh yeah. They caught it right after you moved to Peverell. That was the one that was terrorizing you? It was a little baby!" he said, laughing.

James rolled his eyes. They had a very crazy family. He was sure he'd freak out and think a basilisk was chasing him too if he didn't know any better. Hell, especially if he was sick. It didn't seem like enough to hospitalize her.

"Harry thought I was going to tell Mum and Dad that he was spending all his time with women and he was never around for me. I was still a minor, you know. I'm barely even seventeen now. It was illegal for him to ignore me. That's why he wanted me locked up."

Matt sighed and shrugged. "That sounds like him." He turned to a receptionist and James noticed he had sunglasses and bright blonde hair suddenly. "Can you please ring Lee Jordan, please? Tell him Lily Evans is sick? He's her regular Healer."

She nodded, not even looking at him and got Lee. Then she told him, while blowing a bubble with gum that he'd meet them in the next room. Matt thanked her and walked away with James and Lily, carrying the girl.

Lee Jordan was a very prestigious doctor. James knew his father saw him, and his father told him that Lee only healed famous witches and wizards, as well as very important people in the Ministry. James's dad, being the top auror, was very important.

He was an older man, maybe a few years older than his father. Lee's hair was barely starting to gray, and his cocoa colored skin was starting to wrinkle. Hazel eyes warmed up at the sight of the group, then frowned. "Matthew, what are you doing? You look ridiculous with blonde hair. I thought Lily told you off last time."

"Whatever. I had to get by the receptionist somehow. Lily's running 40 right now. But then she went out in the snow for…forever…without a coat on. Help her."

Lee sighed and tutted before he rolled his eyes and got to work fixing Lily up. By the time she was better an hour had passed, and they all Disaparated to Godric's Hollow.

Lily smiled as she ran through her front door, and everyone cheered for her return. Only Daiyu seemed downtrodden, while Frank and Alice arrived with Frank's little sister Emily when they were gone. "Yu, what's wrong?"

"Damn it, Lily!" Sirius yelled. "That's way to confusing for you to just yell out all the time. You who?"

"Lily, you just missed them again," Daiyu said, shaking her head. "Harry said he needed to show your dad something. They just left through the floo network when you stepped in the door."

Lily froze where she stood. James walked up from behind and saw a lone tear slip down her cheek. She shook her head and smiled, looking at Matt. "He's a good guy, huh? A good brother? I'm just not giving him the credit he deserves?"

Matt shook his head. "Bastard."

"Yeah! Hella yeah! He stole my dad, he ruined my holidays, he's never any fun with me. I'm sick of this, okay? I…I just gotta let him go." She sighed. "I have to let it go, and everything he stands for, and everything I ever wanted that involved him. I can't do this anymore. He's not going to get away with this."

She ran up to her room and Daiyu followed. Chang sighed and stood next to Matt. They grabbed each other's hands and did a chest bump. Then Matt sighed. "Chang, I see dead people."

"Modern vampires of the city…" Chang replied. The he stopped. "Why can't we just agree that there will be blood?"

"Because that's a movie, not a song," Matt told him, looking at him like he was insane.

Chang slapped his head and rolled his eyes. "At least we can be thankful she isn't pissed off at us. I don't think I could take it anymore. She scares me more than Daiyu. She scares me more than Daiyu's mum when she thought I got Daiyu pregnant."

Silence pursued and Matt whistled. "That's pretty fuckin' scary," he agreed.


	4. Chapter 4

**"Do you wanna talk about it?" Daiyu asked.**

**"No. Just make everything go away," Lily replied. She lay on her bed and looked up at the ceiling. "I just need to be alone right now."**

**Daiyu nodded and left.**

**The ceiling was spinning. The soft lavenders and purplish blues started to twist and serpentine into patterns and shapes indiscernible to any sane person. She felt nauseous and turned to her side as she watched the room start to twist and morph into fragments and swirls.**

**If only Harry was more like a brother than a soundless enemy. If only he were her savior instead of the obstacle. She needed someone in her life to be there for her and care about her. Someone she had known since birth and shared blood with her.**

**It couldn't be Matt, he shared only a drop. It certainly wasn't her sister or mother, who hated her with their lives and cursed the day she was born. Harry seemed to care for her as much as his owl and that flew away when he was in his second year of Hogwarts. She thought that had left her father, but in reality there was no one.**

**Finally when the room stopped spinning quite so much she went back downstairs. She smiled at James as he silently asked if she was okay and looked around very confused as to where everyone went. They should be downstairs still.**

**"James, where are Matt and Chang? And Daiyu--what about Sirius and Remus?" she asked him, sitting down next to him on the couch. "Shouldn't they be here?"**

**"No," he replied, laughing. "It's one in the morning. They went over to my house to annoy the hell out of my parents for awhile. I opted to stay back to make sure you were okay. I got some dirt on you for the trouble, too," he said, smiling as he held up a photo album. "Who knew you were a cute baby?"**

**"Cute babies make for cute adults," she retorted as she sat down next to him.**

**"Yes, but I was looking for a beautiful baby, because you're a beautiful adult."**

**She blushed and took the album away from him. She smiled and stroked it. "My First Album," she read. "This was something my sister bought me for my third birthday. She was six, and she was so proud. I didn't have the heart to tell her I had already had a few albums already."**

**He laughed and she opened it, smiling at the picture of her family. It was professionally done, her, Petunia and Harry. They looked happy, but no one knew they actually had to be bribed into taking the picture. Lily wasn't even sure if the photographer knew.**

**"This looks like Harry Evans," he said, pointing to Lily's brother.**

**She laughed. "It _is_ Harry Evans. That's my older brother, the one that only showed up for a few minutes. You have no idea how confusing living with a Harry and Larry was." She laughed and flipped the page. "This was me and Harry at my fifth birthday. He was the best brother ever back then."**

**James looked at her and saw her sad expression. "He's not anymore? What happened?"**

**She shook her head. "We grew up. Harry was a lot older than me, and he has to work all the time. Kids can't always expect their heroes to stick around, right?"**

**"Right…I guess," he replied, confused. Heroes were always supposed to stick around. It was their job to make things better! "So, he was your role model?" he asked.**

**Lily shrugged. "For a long while, yeah. Then when I was…six?…I had to move to New York to go to this school, Julliard? And suddenly I didn't have time for a role model, I was mocked for having my _brother_ as a role model…I stayed there until I was ten, and then I came home--I couldn't take it.**

**"By the time I came home, Harry had gotten into the habit of getting arse over tits, and I didn't like it. As we got older, it got worse, and Matt became my role model because he would never drink in public or drink too much in private. He was never _forced_ to be the designated driver, he _offered_. Not the normal kid, I tell you."**

**"He sounds great," James complimented.**

**"Only on paper," she replied. "Everyone has a flaw. His is that he enjoys sex with Japanese girls, to the point he'll hired prostitutes and keep them in the house for a night. I used to sleep over his house all the time. And he likes it kinky. I thought I'd be scarred for life, but he's been getting better about it."**

**James's jaw dropped. "You caught him with girls? Did he ever make you…you know…"**

**"Right," she replied, slowly and sarcastically. "That'd be the day he lost his dick. Do you know it only takes two minutes for a man to die if he's castrated? Because so much blood runs down there. I think I'd take less time if he had a boner at the time."**

**"What?" he yelled.**

**"It's not that big a deal. Honestly, Matt does Japanese girls because he's been hot for Chang's little sister since…third year…and he can't shag a Chinese girl without thinking of her. Japanese are close, and the average size for a Japanese man's dick is--"**

**Suddenly Matt Apparated and clamped a hand over her mouth. "Let's not finish this little conversation, okay Lily?" he asked. Suddenly he yelled and tossed his hand away from her mouth. "You licked me!"**

**"Your hand was over my mouth. What was I supposed to do? Bite you? I'm a little more mature than that," she retorted.**

**"Oh, so much more mature," he muttered, wiping it off on his shirt. Then he smiled when he saw the album. "Aw, Tiny Tune's album! I love that album! Do you still have the picture of when I was dunking you head first into a giant aquarium in Disney World?"**

**"Yep. And I still remember the spell to make a shark appear and eat you. Do you want to piss me off?" she asked.**

**"Hey! Who took you to the doctor's yesterday? Hmm? I'd be a little nicer if I were you! I have your best interest in mind…Oh look. That was the day Harry and I went to New York to see you."**

**The two were almost comical as they bickered, and James got the impression that they were in fact as close as siblings. They knew every little detail about each other and were upfront and open.**

**Suddenly James found himself pressed under Lily's weight and she squealed as Matt pinned her on him. "Admit that Harry sucks," he said.**

**"If he sucked, no one would listen to him. Record-sales says otherwise," she replied, surprising him with a forceful toss that had him sprawling on the carpet. She rolled off the couch and smiled as she did a cheer. "I won, I won. I told you I was right."**

**He groaned. "Yeah, yeah. So Harry's got some pipes on him. But you're a better singer anyways! James, tell Lily she's a better singer."**

**"You're a better singer," he replied, looking at a picture. "Lily, do you know where this picture's from?" he asked, shocked.**

**She looked at it and gasped. "No way," she breathed. "We were little. Your family came over for New Year's Eve. I was so happy to see your father after Christmas. I just figured out this puzzle he gave me."**

**James snorted. "So you confused me with my dad? No offense, Lily, but there's no way you thought I was my father."**

**At that, she kept her tongue in her head. She didn't need James to know that the answer was arranged marriage. Lily and James were meant to be married at the age of twenty. It wasn't something she ever planned to tell him, in hopes he forgot.**

**James smiled at the sight of them kissing, and looked up in the corner to see they had been standing under mistletoe. "Oh, no wonder why," he said, sighing. "Aren't you supposed to take mistletoe down after Christmas?"**

**Lily shrugged. "Not sure. It was the first and last year we used it. Harry's girlfriend was horny, and she took snog under mistletoe to mean shag under mistletoe. I don't think they will ever forgive Harry or bringing her home."**

**James looked at her in shock. When she shrugged, he looked at Matt as he picked food out of his teeth. Matt caught his gaze and nodded. "Julie was a freak! Harry might've even tapped that if he wasn't eleven! She only saw him that one holiday break."**

**"That's scary," James commented, turning the page as Lily laughed. "What?"**

**"That's exactly what you said when you saw Julie trying to _devour_ my brother. She was so pissed she stopped and left. You were my parents' hero that night."**

**James smiled and looked at a few ordinary photos. Lily at the beach, Lily with her siblings, Lily in the park, Lily with her brother--who looked _strangely_ like Harry Evans, Lily in a moving picture in new York--**

**Hold up.**

**"When were you in New York?" James asked.**

**"When I was six for performing arts. I was given a scholarship to go to a school there and become refined in the arts," she replied, tucking a hair behind her chin. "I told you that already."**

**Matt blew a raspberry. "This girl's being modest. The school doesn't have a single child under the age of seventeen in the college programs and Lily belts her way in there. She's got an amazing voice. And she was such an adorable ballerina."**

**She laughed and shook her head. "Plies, pirouettes, arabesques. Our recital I barely touched the ground. I hated ballet so much. The next year I requested a contemporary dance class. The year after I dropped out of the dancing programs at Julliard because they had no contemporary class."**

**"How do you have a moving picture?" he asked. "I thought you were a muggle."**

**"Didn't I hear you talking to my dad about this?" she asked. "My parent's are both squibs. I'm a pureblood, but…it's one of those weird things in life."**

**James smiled and Lily smiled back. He yawned and put the book away. "That's actually really cool. I mean it. I just have to sleep."**

**She shrugged and got up with him. "Do you want to stay over? I mean, it's not a really long walk, but everyone's over your house, so it'll be loud and really hard to sleep in, and everyone'll be screaming and--"**

**James laughed and she stopped rambling. "If you want me to stay and keep you company, I can. You just have to say it."**

**Matt made a funny face, but Lily didn't noticed as she blushed and asked him to stay. Then Matt spoke up. "Wasn't that the plan, though? You would stay here until tomorrow, this morning I guess, and just watch over Lily while I went to get the presents? I'm so confused. When did the plan change?"**

**Lily laughed as James slapped his head. "It sounded romantic," James muttered from behind his hand. "It was still my plan."**

**She got up and took James's hand, leading him to her room and her king-sized bed. She blushed when he looked at her, questioningly. "I just moved today. Well, my brother and I, but he hasn't been here at all. I don't have any other rooms set up yet and it seems rude to have a guest sleep on the couch. Especially after you've been so nice to me."**

**"Anytime," he told her as he kissed her cheek and flopped onto the bed.**

**Lily blushed a deeper scarlet, then went to change into her pajamas. She debated whether she should change into her flannels, silk sleep pants, or even a nightie. It wasn't that she didn't want James's affection, it was just she didn't do casual and that was what he wanted, she was sure. So would it torture him to see her in a nightie? Would he be repelled if she were in her warm pajamas?**

**"Oh my God," James told her as she came out in her flannel pajamas with stars all over them. "You look…"**

**She was ready for an insult, but was shocked when he suddenly said "so sexy in those pajamas. How do you manage to look sexy in everything?"**

**She laughed. "Good night, James."**

**"I'm serious, though," he told her, earnestly. "You're so sexy and you never notice it."**

**"James, it's two in the morning, I'm tired and I just want to sleep. Can we discuss this later or something?"**

**He shrugged and looked at her, about to say something else before he noticed she was already fast asleep, a smile on her face.**

**He laughed softly and started doze off himself. But just as he was falling fast asleep, he smelt smoke and shot up, looking around.**

**Matt sprinted into the room, slamming the door behind him. "There's a fire," he told James. "Someone set the house on fire. Lily, Lily!" he yelled, shaking her, trying to wake her up. "I'll give you a Mandarin Backhand if you don't wake up right now! Lily! There's a fire!"**

**She bolted up, panicked and looking at her door immediately. "Matt, my photo albums," she told him desperately. "I can't leave them."**

**"Lils, it's either you or the albums," he told her, picking her up and hauling her over his shoulder as he cast a spell for stairs to appear outside her window. "Everyone's already fighting the flames. There might be a few left."**

**James went down first and Matt came down after him with a crying and frantic Lily beating to be let down and go back into the house to get her photo albums. He ignored her and showed her the house, how inflamed it was and why it would be bad for her to go back in. Over the house was a sight neither she or James ever wished to see in person, something the band had been subjected to since becoming famous.**

**Voldemort's mark.**

**Lily screamed and sunk to the ground, sobbing as a new batch of tears poured out for the sheer fear the sign made her feel. Despite the warmth of the fire, she suddenly felt cold and alone and afraid for her whole family.**

**On her front door was the source of the fire, flaming napalm arranged to read "Mudblood whores go home! This is a wizarding community!"**

**James gaped at the words, not knowing what to do or what to say. He only put a hand on her shoulder and stood there, hoping she would realize he was trying to comfort her. James felt her stiffen up and take out her wand, then yell a spell at the house.**

**Water suddenly poured down on the house as if a bucket dropped right over it. The flames died immediately and in the place of the hateful words were daisies spelling out "Bring it on. I am not afraid."**

**Before anyone could stop Lily, she sprinted into the house and looked for her photo albums, coming out with My First Album and three others intact, while two were burnt at the edges and anther blackened and ruined. Her face was stoic and resolute, and she only admitted that she was okay with the ones she saved, though she wished she saved them all.**

**"What a shame we all became such fragile broken things," she said to Matt, crumbling the photo album with tears in her eyes.**

**He pursed his lips together to keep from crying with her. "A memory remains just a tiny spark."**

**Not able to take it anymore, Lily launched herself into Matt and started sobbing. Daiyu ran over to her and hugged the both of them, crying with them. Chang and Ritter stayed back in the distance where they were, amazed at the spell Lily cast and her courage to keep moving on. Sirius and Remus tried to comfort Lily with their words, though Peter had seemed to disappear.**

**James came over and held her hand, and suddenly everything seemed to feel right again to Lily. She let go of Matt and hugged James, holding him tight and crying silently on his shoulder as he just stood there and stroked her back.**

**Once she was done she stepped back and let go, whispering "thank you" as she looked at the house and surveyed the damage.**

**James's father came running over and trying to comfort Lily, making her laugh and bringing up old memories. He asked her to stay over the house and promised it was protected by so many spells and charms nothing could hurt it. Once he got her to agree, he gave her space and gave her time to adjust to the shock of being targeted by Death Eaters.**

**"Uncle Harry, if it's all right to say, I'm not done," she told him. "It's not over yet, and I'm going to find the people that did this and destroy them."**

**He smiled softly. "I hope you do." Then he coughed and lost the sentimental tone in his voice. "Your father and brother already know and they're setting up precautions at their residence to keep your folks and Petunia safe."**

**"Good."**

**"Harry also wanted me to tell you , 'I told you so.' He told you what, dear?"**

**She looked down at the ground, depressed. "We had to keep moving houses or the Death Eaters would come after us. Because we look and act so much like muggles. They think we're mudbloods, and they want to get rid of us. Me especially, because no one ever explained that Harry and I are siblings, so no one knows my story."**

**Mr. Potter looked like he just swallowed a frog and Lily closed her eyes, praying the sign would be gone and it would all just be a nightmare. When she opened her eyes, it was still there and she squeezed them tighter together as she thought of what should send up in response, to get rid of the evil.**

**It was a white dragon, James realized. She sent it shooting up into space and he watched, amazed, as it circled around the mark and crushed it before sitting itself in a tight coil where the mark had been. He looked at her and caught her glaring at the mark and squeezing her wand.**

**"They'll pay," she whispered, spinning on her heel as she stormed off to James's house.**

**Sirius whistled and pointed at the dragon. "_That_, is serious and scary magic, mate. Your girlfriend's a really strong witch. Watch your back, mate. Watch your back."**

**James laughed nervously. "She's not my girlfriend, Sirius. I just want her to be."**

**Mr. Potter clapped James's back and laughed, walking away and leaving James and his friends confused. Then he turned around and counted. "James, son, where's that mousy one? Your awkward, tag-along friend? Lucas?"**

James looked around. "Peter?" He was nowhere to be found and his brows furrowed in confusion. "Where is he? Wasn't he here the whole time?"

Sirius shook his head. "He was over at Lily's with you, wasn't he? He said he was. He never came over to your house with us."

James and Remus shrugged, and walked to James's house down the street. Lily was there sitting on the couch, talking to someone in the mirror with tears in her eyes. James made a fist and got ready to punch something. He wanted to kill the person that reduced Lily Evans to tears.

"Okay. I love you guys, too," Lily said. "Keep safe. I'll see you on Wednesday."

Wednesday? James thought about what Wednesday was and realized it was the Marauders concert. He was going to meet Harry in four days, if he and Lily made it that long. He couldn't believe anyone, even Voldemort, would want to kill his Lily flower in a hundred years.

* * *

"Are you excited?" Daiyu asked, helping Lily get ready for the Marauders concert on Wednesday.

"Oh, sure, I only had to stay hidden indoors and keep away from all human contact for the past two days," Lily replied, annoyed and sarcastic.

She had been in lockdown since the attempt on her life on Monday, where someone tried to tie a bag over her head and toss her in the lake behind the Bagshots. Then there was the attempt the day before when she was swarmed by zombies, but were really only an illusion that almost made her kill herself and Matt when he tried to help her out of it.

Daiyu pursed her lips, then eventually shrugged. "So long as you're alive, I'm okay with the house arrest and the 'no magic' and all that crap. What would I do without you? Every time I tried prank the band would know it was me. You need to be around even if it's just to confuse them."

Lily laughed and tossed her titian hair over her shoulder. "That's true. So, what do you think?" she asked, spinning and almost tripping in her heels.

She was wearing black, strappy Italian heels with light blue jeans and a rip on her left knee. It was a beige tube top covered by a caramel suede jacket and an emerald green scarf-necklace that matched her eyes.

"Cute, but ah…You might be wearing too much for James's comfort," she told Lily, smirking. "You and he like to be really free in front of each other."

Lily screamed, laughing, as she went to hit Daiyu for the remarks. "Just because he keeps showing up when I'm only in a towel, or when I'm getting changed, and I always pop in on him when he's shirtless, or in boxers…" She had to pause for a minute to stop the drool from showing. James had a real hot body… "Doesn't mean he and I are like that."

"Of course, my Lily dear," Daiyu teased, flipping on the bed. "Lily dear, should we go downstairs to see the boys now?"

"Lily flower, you look amazing," James said, earning the laughter of Daiyu and Lily. "She does," he mumbled, embarrassed.

"Come on, Lily dear, we have a concert to attend," Daiyu teased as she linked arms with Lily and skipped down the stairs.

Sirius looked at them oddly, then nudged James. "Oi, why are they skipping? They realize they're full-grown adults, right? Skipping's for third years. And younger." His eyes bugged out and he looked at James with a serious look. "Do you think maybe they're crazy? And that's why Lily won't go out with you?"

James laughed and shook his head. "If she heard you, Lily flower'd say she would be insane if she did go out with me."

Remus coughed and walked by, eating a chocolate frog. Sirius and James watched him as he moved to Daiyu and Lily, waiting by the fire to greet Tonks. They looked around and couldn't find Peter. Lily and Daiyu became aware, but Remus said that Peter had wanted to spend sometime with his family, so he wasn't coming.

"Problem's solved…Tonks is here!" Lily replied, squealing and jumping up and down as her friend popped through the fire. They hugged and Lily introduced her to Daiyu. "This is Chang's fiancée. And baby-holder."

Tonks shook her head. "You should've waited until after the wedding."

Daiyu sighed. "I was planning to, but we were in the moment, and Chang was like, 'you'll never get pregnant.' Now here I am, pregnant before I'm married, and I hate life. Stupid Chang. I wanted to wait to have a baby."

"Hey, you can say that all you want, I can help you deal with it, but never say that in front of Chang. He'll be heartbroken that you don't want his kid," Lily warned, looking at James and Sirius. "You boys ready? We're going to floo over to my cousin Frank's and walk over from there."

"Longbottom, right? How far away does he live?" James asked, stepping into the green fire with Lily.

Lily shouted the address and waited to arrive at Frank's. When she stepped out of the fire, she was almost tackled by Alice back into it.

"Lily, Lily, look at the ring! He proposed. He proposed!" she sang, showing the expensive little thing off. Three carats, four hundred and fourteen galleons. It was a good thing Frank was rich. "Lily, we're going to be together forever. We're going to graduate and have a family and watch them go to Hogwarts and grow up and be just as happy as Frank and I are right now."

Lily laughed and Frank came out to hug her and kiss Alice silent. He greeted James, then Sirius and Daiyu and Remus and Tonks, the last pair to arrive. Alice, in turn, showed it to each of the girls as the men congratulated Frank.

Lily smiled, but inside she didn't understand why the two would be so excited. They had been dating since they started at Hogwarts, never had another relationship. How did they know they loved each other unconditionally, and that it wasn't because they were afraid and wanted something familiar and comfortable as war was starting?

Tonks took a look at Lily's outfit and begged Lily to let her change it. Lily agreed and Tonks made her Apparate back to James's house and get her clothes, then made her and Daiyu and Alice go upstairs to find a better outfit.

After the men waited a few minutes, Lily came down with leggings, a denim miniskirt with high-top sneakers, a black tube top that didn't quite reach her belly button and a charcoal cardigan. She had a water in one hand and a large black canvas bag with a cross and chain on it. Lily pulled up her bug-eyed white and black sunglasses and looked at the boys with a questioning looked.

"Are you planning to start a mob or something?" Sirius asked, offending her. "You look like such a muggle. In a community filled with anti-muggles. You're crazy."

Lily glared at him and Remus slapped him. "She's a girl, mate. All a bloke has to say is 'you look beautiful Lily and everyone that says otherwise is jealous.' How hard is that, really? You and James have issues saying that to her every time."

James tried to protest, but gave up as Frank announced they were going to be late. They all got up and started to walk to the concert, laughing and joking as they went. Out of the corner of his eye, James watched Lily as she walked and caught every glance she took over her shoulder, every time she flinched because of a stray noise. He wished he could do something for her, but he couldn't. There was nothing.

At the concert, they were asked to show their IDs and the bodyguards all treated Lily with respect once they caught her name. Everyone buzzed around her and she soaked it in until Matt appeared.

Her face went from silently happy to glowering and mad. "No way! You're making me at Hogwarts, you never said anything about London! Jameson!"

"Lils, it's a concert. It's not like I'm asking you to make a porno," Harry Evans greeted, swigging a beer. "Besides, that's part of your contract, isn't it? Being at and singing in any available concerts?"

"Oh my God, it's Harry Evans!" Sirius yelled, hitting James. "How long have we idolized this man? James, we finally got to meet him again."

Lily rolled her eyes. "Harry, are you drunk?"

"I said I wouldn't spend vacation drunk, didn't I?" he asked, offended.

"But you also said you'd spend vacation with me, and that didn't happen," she pointed out and Harry shrugged. "Besides, isn't it in my contract that I need advanced warning of a concert in my area to become available? I mean, I'm here with friends."

"Mate, Lily flower's talking to Harry Evans. Harry Evans of the Marauders. Like he's her brother. How cool is that?" Sirius gushed.

Suddenly it all clicked for James. "So, wait. Your brother Harry Evans is _the_ Harry Evans, Lily? And Jameson is Matt Jameson?"

She nodded, treating him like he was dumb. "I can't believe you didn't figure that out earlier," she told him. "Harry, this is James Potter, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin. You've met them before…they're the new Marauders."

"Oh yeah," Harry said, dreamily. "Hey, what up?" He went to shake hands with the boys, a little tipsy and seeing two hands. "Which one of you's supposed to be marrying my sister in a few years?"

James laughed, almost scoffing. "Antiquated sense of matrimony. Who makes arranged marriages nowadays? Who agrees to them?"

Lily coughed and Daiyu almost choked to hold back her laughter. "You'd be surprised," Matt told him, pursing his lips to keep from laughing. "So, Lily, are you coming on or not? Because I don't think we're going to sing at Hogwarts if you don't sing now."

She glared at him. "You're an evil son of a bitch, Jameson. You know that?" she told him, mock-glaring. "First I have to sing at my Welcome Back party, I can't bring a date, I have to get along with…_that_," she said, looking at Harry with a glare he gladly returned, "and now I have to sing here?"

Harry smiled and nodded. "I'm glad you understand. Now hurry up and get in costume. Aaron has everything set-up and we checked out the sound and acoustics this morning, so we don't need a sound-check."

Lily sighed, resigned, and walked off into a cloud of people getting ready to fix her up.

James just looked at her and her expression. She was sad and bored and, he thought, a little betrayed. She stayed still as the makeup artists attacked her face and her hair got pulled into an intricate design and he felt her frustration. He looked at Harry and felt the same frustration as Lily.

And suddenly James wondered, how was this the man he idolized?


	5. Chapter 5

"You know, I really can't believe you sometimes," Lily told Harry as she came off-stage at the end of the night. "How do you even manage on that much alcohol?"

"Lots and lots of practice," he slurred, slinging his arm over her shoulder and stumbling onto her. "At least I can hold my alcohol and not do something stupid--like go find the first guy not related to me and ask him to shag himself while she watched."

She shook her head as James gaped. Lily did _what?_ "I still don't remember this. Who was at the party?" she asked, confused.

"Me," Matt replied, shaking his head as he mussed her hair. "It didn't go down quite like that, though. The guy asked you to shag 'im because you were so arse over tits, and you still had the sense of mind to tell him off. Passed out after that and you had to go see Lee Jordan again. He's concerned for you and James. You're both going to see him about alcohol at least twice a year."

Harry made a slurred snort. "I go and see him four or five times a year. Lily's only been there once or twice in her life."

Matt and Lily exchanged a look and Lily just shook her head. It wasn't worth telling him he didn't know how often she went to the hospital because he was usually right there next to her in a hospital bed.

Then Sirius opened his trap. "Does that mean our dear Lily flower is deflowered?"

Daiyu and Matt laughed and Harry whizzed on him, glaring at Sirius as he stumbled. "My sister is not a whore. She is not a mudblood, she's not a slut, she's not a skank, she's just a singer."

Lily shook her head. "No, I'm a virgin. I don't plan on being a cheap young singer. I never have. It's something my role model taught me…" She trailed off and looked towards Harry as he started hitting on another girl backstage. "But, I guess maybe it's not as bad as I always thought it was. Maybe I _should_ just become a slutty, mediocre teen singer that parties nonstop and passes out in clubs from alcohol and drugs. "

Matt shook his head disapprovingly. "Just because Harry went through some hard times and he came off the path, doesn't mean you should let go of your morals and just throw your life away."

"What else can I do?" she asked, starting to get mad. "What else would make Harry notice me? Scandals. 'You were out with that…thing again! That's it! I'm keeping a stricter eye on you. I hope you enjoy having no fire whiskey,'" she angrily mimicked Harry. "He never says anything about, 'Oh, I say you at the charity ball. Very nice. You behaved like a lady.' So why not trick him?"

James shook his head and looked at Tonks, rolling her eyes in annoyance. "Do you want me to solve all your problems, Lily?" she asked, glaring at Harry as he tipsily made his way back over to them.

"Don't, Tonks," Lily told her, panicked. "Please. It'll only be a little longer. Then I won't be under his guardianship and I can completely forget about him. Just don't say anything to him, okay?"

"Lily!" Harry half-yelled as he sloppily hooked his arm around her shoulders again. "Those lovely pieces of arse over there are willing to have a three-way with me. Would you be okay at the house by yourself?"

"I haven't been in the house since the fire," she pointed out, annoyed. "Just go. What's stopping you?"

"I don't know. I think one of the girls asked about you. She went to school with you? I guess she's a Hufflepuff. Morgan?"

"Grace Morgan?" she and Tonks yelled, looking at Harry, then each other. "You're going to have a three-way with Greasy Grace?" they asked in unison. Lily and Tonks looked at Daiyu and asked, still simultaneously. "You know Greasy Grace?"

She scrunched up her nose and thought for a moment, then yelped. "Monkfish Morgan's baby sister?" she asked, shocked. "How does someone that ugly even have the guts to have a sister?" The three girls turned to look at the very young, greasy pug-faced girl that Harry wanted to sleep with. "Well, she might not have much, but I think that's all the looks that family has. A pug or a monkfish."

"I'd take the monkfish," Tonks told them, obviously disgusted by Grace.

"I'd rather look like neither of them and thank every deity I know in every religion I don't look like one of the Morgans," Lily replied, shuddering. Then she slapped Harry's arm. "I can't believe you want Greasy Grace. She's a fourth year!"

Harry gaped. "A what?" he asked, shocked.

"Fourth…year," Lily said slowly. "As in, Betty Longbottom's age. Younger than Tonks. The grade-level where even Sirius won't get tail from."

He shuddered and looked back over to Grace and shook his head. "Dude, it'd be like shagging with a baby. I'm gonna tell her you can't be left alone or something. I forgot I was already planning to have a shag with someone else."

As he walked off, lily sighed and called after him, "Just don't get the two stories mixed up! All I need is for him to make a drunk mess-up and everyone thinks I shagged my brother."

Daiyu laughed and looked at Siyu. "Why don't you guys ever do anything to Harry? Have an intervention or something?" she asked.

He shrugged and rubbed her tummy. "We've tried. There's just no cheering that man up unless you know what's wrong with him to start with."

"Which is?"

"I'll tell you some other time."

Daiyu shrugged and James studied Siyu closely. He looked guilty, torn, and loyal all at once. Then he looked to Harry, breaking off his party with the two girls--both were fourth-years that he recognized from Hufflepuff--and studied him.

"There's something secret about him," Remus told him, making James jump. "Sorry, mate. I thought you knew I was here."

James brushed it off and asked Remus what he meant. Harry started to walk towards them, then went to the muggle-beer in the corner. Remus watched him carefully before talked to his friend.

"Just what it sounds like. Harry's hiding something from Lily. He drinks because he'd feel too guilty sober not to tell her."

"You noticed that too?" Sirius asked, interrupting his two friends. "Because I did a little sniffing around," he said, emphasis on the end as to hint he had done his snooping on four legs with a tail, "and you're very right. There' some kind of prophecy that Harry has to live out soon. I guess he gets hurts during it or something."

James shrugged and looked over towards Lily, laughing at Tonks and her nose changing shape and species, while she drank butterbeer from a plastic cup.

They caught eyes and Lily smiled, excusing herself to go see James. "Hello, stranger," she greeted merrily, her cheeks red and her eyes bright. "Now do you understand why I'll be going stag to the dance?"

He nodded and grabbed her glass. "You'll be singing. Which is why I think we should get our dancing in now," James told her, smoothly distracting her and still getting his way. "Is there anything they can play now to give us something to dance to?"

"I'll sing you something," she told him, her head resting on his shoulder. "No I know, that I can't make you stay," she started, soft and melodious, though James recognized the lyrics to be a little faster and sharp when her brother sang them.

They laughed and twirled around under each other's arms until the song ended and real music turned out. They jumped, shocked, as they realized Matt had gone and put a bunch of old CDs on so they could concentrate on their dancing.

Tonks smiled at them and grabbed Remus, pulling him into the middle of the backstage and starting to dance with him. Siyu and Daiyu joined them and eventually Matt and Sirius did as well with two girls still lingering backstage.

James laughed as Lily stepped back to teach him to two-step. When he didn't get it, she just smiled and swiveled her hips in time to the music and had him follow. He appreciated that she didn't do anything too complicated, seeing as she was an amazing dancer and he had two left feet.

After seven or eight dances, Matt pulled Lily away as a fast-beat song came on. James watched enviously as Matt and she did a routine. When Lily landed her flip in a full split, James went wild excited for her, clapping and cheering along with everyone who had been cheering her on since the beginning. She and Matt ended the song with Lily doing a handstand on his arms.

"That was amazing!" James said aloud.

"Who ever thought Lily flower had it in her?" Sirius replied, shocked as she started a ballet routine to a soft, slow melody.

"Have you two ever noticed you always refer to Lily as Lily flower?" Remus asked, a little annoyed.

Tonks stopped dancing and laughed. "Daiyu and she have," she told them. "They're calling her 'Lily dear' now. See if you guys notice how obvious you are."

"No, they're _oblivious_," Remus told her, laughing as he pulled her away and they started dancing again in the corner.

Once the ballet routine was done, Lily smiled and bowed, looking right at James. He felt warm inside and then saw her turn to Harry and start a conversation. Suddenly he felt cold as he witnessed the conversation get serious and eventually intense. It got to the point where they started yelling and everyone stopped to watch them.

"Well why would I ever want to further training when you yanked me out of classes half the time?" she yelled.

"Maybe because you enjoy it so much!" he yelled back. "You always blame me for missing classes and recitals for work, but did you ever stop to think that I'm not the one making you sign contract after contract? That you could've just said no and gone on dancing if you had really wanted to?"

"I never wanted to!" she yelled even louder with dramatic hand motions. "It was your idea in the first place. I wanted to learn hip-hop and break-dancing and contemporary, and you told me I had to stay in ballet. You even stopped my petition at Julliard to get contemporary dance!"

He shrugged. "But then you quit ballet because you said I was always forcing you to do other things--like force you to have a career in America! I never twisted your arm over work and yet, it's always _whose _fault? My fault!"

"Because _who_ has legal guardianship until next year and annoys me for hours for hours on end, slurring that I have to sign the contract?" Lily yelled right back. "I really have _no choice _in how I want to live my life until next year. _Maybe_, I don't _want_ to join the Marauders and tour around the world--what if I want to be an auror?"

Harry froze and Thomas Ritter turned off the music and walked up to Harry. "Ay, mate? Are you okay?" he asked cautiously.

He brushed Ritter off and walked away, mad. Lily bit down on her lip, then tried to blink back tears. When that failed, she turned to Ritter and whispered "I'm sorry" and shook her head as she sprinted in the opposite direction towards her changing room.

"Lily! Lily, wait!" Ritter yelled, frustrated. Then he turned to Matt. "Do you want the one PMSing or the kid forced to be an adult?"

Matt thought for half a second and started jogging in Lily's direction. "Call the kid!"

Ritter sighed. "Great. I have the PMS-case. Why do I give him the option?"

Sirius gaped as the girl he ha been dancing with left him and took her friend, the one that had been dancing with Matt. James looked confused and watched helplessly as everything started to get broken down and the backstage was being vacated for the cleaning crew.

"Should I go check on Lily dear?" Daiyu asked Siyu as they were told to go back to the dressing room or leave. "She doesn't understand what's going on, you know."

Siyu sighed. "I know. But what can we do for her about it? We were sworn into complete secrecy." He looked around. "Takes someone with you--a boy. I don't like you being alone backstage at night. I probably need to go check up on Harry."

The couple kissed and Daiyu grabbed James as they went their separate ways. As they walked, they could hear Siyu mumble "stupid Harry and PMS."

"Why me?" James asked as they walked to the room.

"Why not? You're a nice, sweet boy that's completely in love with Lily," Daiyu started, then shrugged. "And she's gaga over you so it's win-win. I was basically going to ask if she was okay, grab Matt, and leave you both be."

James laughed and thanked Daiyu as they knocked on the door and opened it. "It sounds like a very lovely…sight," he trailed off, seeing Lily half-dressed in front of Matt while he talked and she made a casual retort here and there. "Hello."

"Right. Like he sees anything but himself."

"He does," Matt protested, playing with her perfume bottle. "What does it smell like? Can I spray it?"

"No. I'm not wearing that one right now. This entire room would smell disgusting," she replied as she swiped it back. "Can you get the clasp for me? I can't reach it without showing off my boobs."

Matt snorted and unclipped it as Lily held it in place over her breasts. "What boobs? You're a B-cup, sweetie. That's not that big."

James gaped. "B? That's the perfect size!" he protested, making him and Daiyu known. He already knew she was a B-cup, but for Matt to know too… "And what are you two doing in here alone?"

"Ranting," Lily replied, running behind a changing wall, silk and Chinese-ish. "What are you guys doing here? Shouldn't you be backstage with everyone else? I promise we'll be right back out there. Daiyu, can you help me out this on? Apparently we're going to a party after this and I need to look presentable," she said in a mocking voice that made them instantly aware she were making fun of Harry.

Daiyu shrugged and helped her slip into her new outfit and when Lily stepped out the boys' jaws dropped.

"You cannot go out in that," Matt told her, shocked.

"Yes, she bloody can. She's bleeding sexy right now," James retorted, gawking.

She blushed and smiled sweetly at him as she swayed back and forth on her blue kitten-heeled sandals. Lily had a white summer dress with blue ribbon deisgns on her breasts and waist, tied together with a flower. There were prints on the bottom foot and it went over her knees and stopped just in time to show her well-shaped calves.

"Hey, eyes off her, mate," Matt warned, snapping his fingers and bringing James back. "She may look beautiful, but she's off-limits to--"

"Matt, can I talk to you?" Daiyu asked, cutting in and grabbing his arm. "Come one, outside. It's about Harry."

James and Lily waited until the two left and then they laughed. They looked at each other and the laughing stopped, they were just looking at each other. James cleared his throat after what seemed like an eternity and looked away, making Lily blush again. "So, if the Marauders are singing at the Hogwarts dance…"

"I'll be singing at it, yeah," she replied, finding the floor suddenly fascinating. "Look, James, it's not that don't want to be your date--"

"Would you if you weren't singing?" he asked, hopeful.

She took a second, then looked up at James and told him, straight to his face, "Yes."

He smiled and did something unexpected. Before Lily could react, he was kissing her and put his hands around her neck, grabbing her hair. After a few seconds as he was about to pull back, Lily reacted and fisted his hair in one hand as the other one went to his chest.

They took a second to breathe, then started kissing again, this time with ore passion. She felt James's tongue flit out and she opened her mouth to accept him. He groaned and pushed her towards the wall to get better leverage. He moved one hand from her hair to creep down towards her breasts. He had only hovered over them when they heard someone at the door.

Just as they broke apart, panting, Harry storm through the door and searched her out. When he saw her, he vetoed the dress immediately. He went behind her changing area to find one more appropriate for her, and Lily frantically motioned for James to hide before Harry caught him and they got in trouble.

James nodded and sprinted to the corner, then jumped behind the leather couch just in time. Harry came out and tossed her a new dress. "This one's prettier."

She made a gagging noise. "It's bright yellow. I'd look like a canary…I'd look like Big Bird!"

He sighed dramatically and went back behind the wall, then came back with a new dress.

Lily gasped and jumped up and down excited. "That's so pretty!"

"Good. Wear it. It's a cocktail party. Not a garden party. Do you have a date?"

"I could get James to go."

He smiled behind the couch and Harry shrugged. "At least he's Gryffindor. He's someone the family knows…I mean, he may be a prankster, but he's a good kid for the most part. I can approve of him."

"Thanks, because I was so worried you wouldn't," she replied sarcastically as she looked from Harry to the dress. "Do you mind leaving so I can change?" she asked pointedly.

"Fine. Bye," Harry told her as he sauntered out and shut the door.

James waited a few seconds and then popped out. "Do I need to leave too or can I watch?" he asked.

Lily sighed and moved towards him, then twirled to show him her back. "Unzip, please," she told him in an almost bossy voice. He obliged and sat down on the couch. "Thank you! It'll only take a moment or two." Then she stopped. "_Would_ you come to the party with me?"

"Yeah. Why not?" he asked, confused. "I mean, you're finally asking me for a date and not the other way around. This is perfect."

She rolled her eyes and went behind the curtain, not giving James the peep-show he wanted. When Lily came back out, he gasped and she shrugged. "Work hazard. Zip me up, please?"

"I suddenly have a strong feeling of gratitude towards Harry's sense of fashion," James told her as he zipped up the metallic silver one-sleeve cocktail dress.

It had a deep v-cut with two band going across the top to make a small hole for her cleavage to peep through. One band continued to run under her armpit while the other rose slightly to cross over her shoulder, where it intercepted another strap going vertical right over her collarbone. It ran down to her mid-thigh in a flowing but formfitting way that made James's mouth water and left him to imagine…

Once she was zipped, James took his hands and traced them down the dress, feeling its silkiness over Lily's curves. Then he looked down at her feet and laughed breathlessly as he pulled her closer. The breath sent shivers down her spine and James groaned.

"What about shoes?" he asked, running a hand up her bare arm. He chuckled at her breathy gasp. "Come on. Don't tell me no one's ever done this to you before."

She looked at him dubiously over her shoulder and walked towards a carry-case of shoes that Lily explained the stylists always brought her. She picked out strappy silver stilettos and bent to put them on, making James drool.

She laughed and stood up straight, putting on onyx jewelry and white gold earrings. "Okay, let's go, Romeo," she told him, a lightless in her eyes James could only identify as a happiness she had never felt before. "Let's go borrow some of Matt's clothes so we can get in, get drunk, get out and fuck."

He froze, all the blood rushing south and Lily squeaked and turned red. She mumbled that she didn't mean it, it was just a phrase Matt shouted in the house a lot, and scurried off. James finally unfroze and laughed, running after her.

* * *

"It's good to see all my students back," Dumbledore told them, smiling softly as James and Lily blushed lightly and stood close together. "Lily? Did Daiyu and her fiancé get married over vacation?"

"No sir," she replied, looking up. "They thought they would, but…the situation changed again."

As it happened, Daiyu was visited by a healer the day after the concert, apologizing profusely for saying she was pregnant when the test, when reviewed, said she clearly was not. She and Siyu talked about it for a few hours and agreed to postpone the wedding again, though plan to have a small one at Godric's Hollow.

"Very good. Remind them, abstinence is the key," he told her, making Lily's jaw drop. "And I heard you two had a very eventful vacation. I heard a lot about you two in the gossip column _after_ all the excitement was over, actually."

They looked at each other, then Dumbledore, shocked. Quicker to catch on, Lily realized he meant the fire. "Yes, Professor. But James and his family have been nothing but angels about it. It definitely cemented the fact I want to be an auror now, though. The rest o my life I want to devote to stopping…Voldemort."

Dumbledore nodded and led them to his office. He muttered the password "Abba-Zaba" and motioned for them to follow him. He sat down and waved around two chairs for them. "Now, I trust you have this party in order and are ready to tell me about it?"

"Yes, sir," Lily replied, professionally as she took out a large piece of plywood they tacked and stapled and glued everything to. "The party will be this Saturday, after classes are let out, with live music and dancing."

"Dancing or…dancing?" Dumbledore asked, making Lily blush and James take control.

"The type that would have McGonagall in a fit if she saw it," he replied, taking the board. "Lily was able to get the Marauders to agree to sing while they were here."

"Yes. I already heard from Harry. He was very upset when he came by, but he told me you would be singing with him."

Lily nodded solemnly. "Yes, sir. And Matt agreed to bring old Hogwarts decorations. The old-school ones you couldn't find when they graduated." She winced. "I'm sorry they did that in the first place."

Dumbledore shook his head dismissively. "I didn't care when they didn't, I don't care now. How else would they feel accomplished? I couldn't just ruin their pranks." Then he pointed a bony finger at her and he got serious. "Though some of yours and Daiyu's got a little out of hand and I'm amazed Harry didn't step in then."

"Don't look at me. It was one of the Marauders," she replied, laughing a little. "Besides, unless you told Harry who did it he just guessed who the prank most resembled. If it looked like something the Marauders would do, he blamed them. If it looked like Daiyu or me, he'd blame us."

James shook his head. "We got credit for half her pranks and lost credit on the majority of ours. I can't believe so many of our pranks seemed feminine."

Lily laughed and went on to present the dance. Once Dumbledore approved it, they were standing to leave when Dumbledore stopped them. "While you two retire to your rooms, I feel the need to remind you that you are on school grounds and cohabitation is forbidden. To make sure you don't feel tempted after what I've read in the gossip magazines, I took the liberty of charming your doors."

"Professor?" Lily asked, confused.

"Whether you've tried it before or not, the rooms had no restrictions--James would be able to walk into your room, he could walk into the bathroom when you were in it, and vice versa. You will now be immediately petrified if you step into the threshold, and the other person's door to the bathroom will not open until the other is out and the door is shut." he smiled. "Thank you, you may both go now."

They both gaped and complied. Once they were downstairs and on their way to their dorm, Lily groaned and slapped her head. "Why did I have to stay away so long? We could've had such a great time…"

James laughed softly and kissed her, then let his lips trail to her ears and down her neck, then back up. Her neck was burning from the sensual kisses and James groaned in her ear when he heard her moan lightly. "But that doesn't mean we can't find other, more _exciting_ places to be together," he told her. "Because I waited too damn long for this."

Lily quickly checked to see if the coast was clear, then pushed him against a wall, cupping his balls. "Believe me, if I knew what I was missing, you wouldn't have waited so long. As long as I don't end up like Daiyu, this whole relationship is worth it."

There were footsteps and the sounds of girls giggling as they talked about their vacation and the two jumped apart, talking to each other about the dance while walking at a brisk pace to their dorm.

"Skillet and Sugarcult," Lily said, rushing. The portrait shrugged and opened.

Once they were inside, they were pressed tight against each other, lip to lip, and James pushed Lily against the wall as he cupped her breast. She moaned into his mouth and moved towards his erection and he groaned as he pulled her to the couch, already starting to take off her robes.

"God, you're so fucking sexy," he told her as she took the tights off slowly and stood back up. "How do you do it? How do you always look so perfect and sexy?"

She laughed and kissed him. "I could ask you the same. We just had a shag before we got ready on the train." she frowned and started to undo his pants. "It's not going to be right, only being able to shag you on the couch, in the corridors, empty classrooms…"

Every location ended with Lily kissing James's chest right where the button had been done, her body moving down towards his erection slowly. "Don't forget…the broom closets," he groaned, holding Lily's hair as she moved lower. "Those are fucking amazing if you know how to use them."

"James, shut up. I'm going to add that to my list of places, and then I'm going to undress you, I'm going to give you head, and then I'm going to fuck you. Do you feel up for any of it?" she asked, her breasts rubbing against the sensitive skin between his legs where his pants and knickers had been moments before. "Let me know if you can keep up, baby."

"Believe me, I don't just keep up," he told her, summoning his wand and removing the rest of her clothes as she looked on with needy eyes. "I take over. I _dominate_."

* * *

"She's a good kid. You've raised her well, Harry," Dumbledore told him a few minutes after Lily and James left.

Harry snorted. "Of course I did. She only still wants to be an auror."

"I wonder if, had you pushed her to be an auror as a child, she would want to be a singer now," Dumbledore told him, turning and looking into the fire. "But, my dear man, there is nothing we can do about all this now. We must move on and prepare for the inevitable moment that you leave us."

"It's scary, you know?" Harry told him, crossing the room to watch Dumbledore phoenix sleep. "I mean, I know I'm going to die for the greater good, that I'm supposed to save Lily's life, but…"

Dumbledore nodded, understanding. "Just be glad you're not taking a life," he told him cryptically.

It was supposed to be a huge secret that Dumbledore had been friends with Grindelwald and that the two of them got in a fight that ended with one of them killing Dumbledore's sister, Ariana.

Very few people knew, a select twenty or so that would take it to the grave. It was only one that knew, when Dumbledore looked in the mirror of desire, he saw who killed Ariana. And Harry would keep his shared knowledge of which wizard it was to his grave.

"It's still weird though," he told Dumbledore. "I'm just going on about my life like nothing matters, and suddenly I find out there was a prophecy I'd die defending my sister so she could live to fight Voldemort."

"But it's those unpredictable moments that make us who we are. And how we go on about our lives after that which show us life." Dumbledore went back to his chair and watched Fawkes preen. "Don't worry. Soon Lily will understand. Then the task would be keeping her and James from springing the hope of salvation early."

Harry looked at him funny. "What do you mean? Like, she has her own prophecy?"

"Yes. To marry James and have a son that will defeat Voldemort," Dumbledore told him, smiling in his quirky little way. "I'm trying to convince them he should be named Albus, though you may want Harry. He just can't be made before they're out of school though. I think there'd be repercussions."

Harry slapped his head then thought about it. "Albus Potter, Harry Potter. How about Harry Albus Potter? Harry Potter just sounds better."


	6. Chapter 6

"James," Lily muttered, urgent as he started to kiss her neck. "James. James! James! We need to get up. We have classes in an hour."

"You might, but I don't," he replied, smirking. "I made mine very late in the day just for these instances."

"Aren't you something," she mumbled, getting up and rubbing her head. "I have Potions in forty minutes and Slughorn's going to kill me if--"

James shot up, shocked. "It's already noontime?"

Lily nodded and picked up her clothes, going off to her bedroom. James picked his own clothes off the living room floor and headed to the bathroom. He washed and got ready, hearing a banging on the door to Lily's room.

"What?"

"Let me in. I have to get ready."

"Door's not locked."

Lily huffed and counted to ten, hoping James would remember what Dumbledore had told them about the new restrictions. When he didn't, and Lily was sure she'd be late for class, she tried a different approach. "James, why were we having sex on the couch and not in our rooms?"

He shrugged, even though Lily could see him, and finished styling his hair. "Because we wanted to?" he guessed.

Lily banged her head on the door and groaned. He could _not_ be this dense. "Does a meeting in Dumbledore's office ring any bells?"

He thought about it for awhile. There was indeed a meeting in Dumbledore's office, he knew that much. Something about the party and sex…Harry and the Marauders bringing decorations…

He froze and racked his brain for the details about sex. Meanwhile, Lily was still outside the door, ready to kill him. She banged on it again and yelled at him, telling him she couldn't get in until he was out and the door was shut.

He nodded to himself in the mirror and rushed out of the room, shutting all the doors. Suddenly Lily's opened up and she yelled for joy she could get ready.

Less than twenty minutes later, both the Head Boy and the Head girl were out of their dorm and sprinting to the potions lab, preparing to be late.

Slughorn was about to shut the door and lock it, his rule to keep people from coming late. James sprinted to the door just before it was shut and Lily jogged in seconds after him, panting and apologizing to Slughorn.

Had he shut the door, they would have to come after class for detention, make up the work they did for the day, and not get the class credit.

"So nice of our role models to join us," Slughorn quipped. "Though I'm very surprised at you, Miss Evans, for being so late."

"But I'm not late. I'm just on time," she protested. "Even. Even with Evans. Not too early, not too late. It's how things always work out."

Slughorn smiled and walked to the front of the class, starting his lesson for the day. Lily just sighed, happy he didn't say anything else. Then she looked at Remus and glared. He always told her Slughorn liked her, but she never thought he was right. She hated whenever he knew something better than her.

"Today we will be working on a polyjuice potion," Slughorn told the class. "This will allow you to transform into another person temporarily. It is not completed in a day, and hopefully by the end of the class everyone will be able to become their partner."

Lily looked confused. Hadn't they already done a polyjuice potion before? She could have sworn she had made it before.

But when she asked Slughorn he shook his head. "Impossible! While you are a very advanced student, Miss Evans, this potion goes well over even your ability."

"I swear, Professor, you taught it to us as second-years," Lily protested.

"No, Miss Evans, not even the most brilliant witches and wizards would be able to brew this correctly in so few years of school--especially at second-year. You would have to be one of the strongest witches in the world--you'd hold your own in a fight against He Who Must Not Be Named if you had."

She shrugged and let it go, making a mental note to ask Daiyu later. She was positive she had, back when they were trying to find out if they could take the forms of ghosts like Headless Nick if they get the hair from their corpses.

Lily smiled inwardly as she thought back to her second year. It was her morbid, depressing year where she rebelled against everything happy in her world. And the year after that was her preppy year, followed by her rebellious year.

After class, she went to Defense Against the Dark Arts with James and Remus, while Sirius met up with them.

"Lily…" Sirius started, remembering his promise to her that he would refrain from calling her "Lily flower" until after graduation.

Lily smiled and pecked his cheek as she and James walked on, holding hands. Sirius looked confused, then turned to Remus and told him, "Lily's finally giving into me. I just wish I didn't have to hurt James."

Now Remus looked confused. "What the bloody?"

"Lily's in love with me," Sirius stated, serious and keeping a straight-face. "It's just too bad James is in love with her and I'm in love with myself. Everyone but me's going to be hurt when this is all over."

Remus rolled his eyes and kept walking, slapping Sirius upside the head and starting a new conversation.

As the three Marauders had always planned to be aurors, they each had to take specific classes. Peter had always told them, mumbling, that his future was predetermined and he was not to be an auror, so he took very liberal and loose classes, having fun his last year of Hogwarts while Remus, Sirius, James, and even Lily busted their tails off.

She had, though she didn't know what she wanted to be, gotten all Outstandings on her OWLs and taken a class in everything still. She had hoped it pointed her in the direction she wanted to go in when she graduated, which had been into the medical field until the attack on her house.

James slumped in the back as he listened to the teacher prattle on about matters that didn't seem important to him. Words about how the year would get steadily harder as they now studied and got prepared to take their NEWTs in the spring. She forced them all up out of their seats to partner up and try to perform wandless spells against their partner.

"Padfoot, do me a favor?" James asked.

Sirius just smiled and nodded, grabbing Remus away from Lily. "Come on, Moony. You and I are going to partner up today to give the lovebirds some alone time."

Lily laughed and smiled deviously at James. She had taken lessons on how to do wandless magic over the summer, and practiced with Matt and Siyu and Daiyu. It was partially for self-defense, mostly to be able to perform feats never seen by mankind. Like walking on water. He didn't know what he was getting himself into.

He smiled and sized Lily up, thinking she'd start with something simple. She knew he was better than her at Defense Against the Dark Arts, but he'd go easy on her. After all, they were fucking official…ish. He frowned, suddenly put-out. They were fucking at least. Did that make them official?

Before he could even ask if she was ready, he found his pants fell to the ground and the class was laughing. He looked around, confused, and Lily just winked at him. He growled and made her topless.

Lily gasped and covered herself. She glared at James and warned him, "If this is how you want it."

He smiled. "Bring it."

The next thing anyone saw was James was shirtless and the teacher was breaking the two up, glaring as she took points after points away from Gryffindor.

"Shame on the two of you," she scolded. "I would think you would have the decency to leave prying eyes out of your relationship. Whatever you two do, do it on your own time outside of the castle. I've exposed far too many couples on Hogwarts grounds to condone any of this."

"Professor!" Lily yelled, embarrassed and still in denial herself. "Potter and I aren't a couple!"

James stayed silent, too shocked to say or do anything. When Lily finally convinced the teacher they were just following her instructions, to use wandless spells against their partner, the bell rang and James started to leave without her.

She looked at Remus and Sirius, who were shocked and disappointed at the same time. "I thought you two were in love," Sirius said, strained with anger.

"We never said we were in love, or in a relationship. I refuse to say anything until I know he's serious about me," Lily said, sad and a little hurt he just left and didn't even want to speak to her about it.

"Until you know?" Sirius repeated, getting angrier. "Lily, he's been chasing you for years! He shags you, you guys hold hands in public and snog when you don't think anyone's watching! How much more do you need to know?"

"That I'm not just another catch!" she yelled, amazed he thought so little of her. "James needs to tell me we're a couple. People shag without meaning, Sirius. I want to wait until I know we're not having meaningless shags before I put my heart in this. He knows he's the one that needs to say we're in a relationship."

"Does he really?" Remus asked, shocking them. Neither ad realized he was still there. "We know, _now_, that you're waiting for his word. But we thought you to were already official. Maybe James did, too. I don't think he shags without some kind of commitment."

Sirius shook his head vehemently and glared at Lily. "Never. He's only been with five."

"Wow, _only_ five?" Lily replied, glaring right back. "You make it sound like nothing! That's five women he's been with. You can't be serious with five different women!"

Remus sighed and looked at the clock. "Lily, we're going to be late for Herbology and Padfoot'll be late for Potions. You have to start a polyjuice potion today."

Sirius made a gagging noise. "Those things taste like shit and smell rank. Who was it that made it in our second year, and there were, like, twenty copies of Dippit running around?"

"Who cares? I'd start running if I were you," Remus told him, rolling his eyes.

The dark-haired boy nodded and sprinted down the corridor, towards the stairs to the dungeon. Remus and Lily laughed, rushing off to their own class. Lily frowned when she remembered James wouldn't be there, as he had Charms now and Transfiguration afterwards with Remus.

After the class, Remus checked to make sure Lily was okay as she went off to Charms with Sirius. She nodded numbly and didn't pay attention as she walked on and took a turn into the wrong corridor. Lily stopped when she realized it was a dead-end and went to turn around when she saw James.

Lily wanted to make things right between them and started walking towards him, calling his name.

When he turned, though, Lily noticed he wasn't alone. There, half-dressed, was her greatest enemy, Emily Rustenburg, the Ravenclaw whelp.

* * *

James glared as he pushed people to the side, hurrying to Charms so he wouldn't have to deal with Lily. He couldn't believe what an idiot he had been. Here he was thinking they'd be a couple and his dreams of being with Lily would finally come true, but she was just shagging.

He sat down and nodded to his seatmate, Emily Rustenburg, then remembered what she had said after the concert when he met Harry Evans. _She's using me to get back at him. She thinks this is just casual._ He groaned and slammed him head on the desk.

He should have known Lily wouldn't make such idle threats. Until she could get her brother to pay attention to her, she'd act like a whore and do stupid things. He should've known better.

Emily looked at him and patted his back. "Anything you want to talk about, James?" she cooed.

He had known for years Emily liked him, but he never gave her a second glance. For him, it had always been Lily. But now that Lily was going to go wild, and he had made a huge mistake, resulting in casual shagging, he figured he'd have nothing to lose. Casual shagging was completely against his belief, but Lily had led him on and made him do it.

He so he told her. "Lily. I can't get her out of my mind."

"Well, do you want a sure-fire way to make her notice you?" Emily asked, winking.

He shook his head. "I got her to notice me. It's keeping her attention that's my problem. She's already ready to move on."

"Then this is perfect. What better way to make her notice you than making her jealous?" she asked, sounding so bright and confident James thought it was a real offer and maybe she knew what she was doing.

"Meet me in the dead corridor after class. The one leading to the girls bathroom, right by Herbology," she told him.

He nodded, not thinking about it. All too quickly class ended, and James found himself walking down to the dead corridor with Emily, holding hands. Once they were there, Emily instructed him to kiss her. "Make it look like a real relationship."

"I don't think this is such a good idea, Emily," he started. "I mean, no one ever comes this way so how would it help me get Lily's attention? And I don't think she'd really respond to something like this. Maybe I should just--"

"James, every girl wants what they can't have," Emily coaxed, rubbing a hand down his chest. "Besides, everyone knows about you and Evans. It was all over the _Daily Prophet_, how you're in a relationship. I don't understand why but you two were. You realize she's just using you, right?"

James froze and Emily smirked. She knew she found her in with that.

"Yeah," she replied, smoothly. "And I hate to break it to you, but…you're such a nice guy. You know Evans and I used to share a dorm room right?" she asked, slyly starting to undress herself and move James hands provocatively against her. "She used to traipse men in and out, have all these short relationships with them, then cut them off after they had sex a few times."

He didn't want to believe Emily, but their was so much evidence against Lily. He knew about these short relationships she had, though he didn't know how she got the men up to her room; he hadn't felt her tear when he entered her the first time; the way she was acting now!

Suddenly other students swarmed through the halls around them, and he made up his mind. If Lily could have a casual relationship, he could have one. If she could shag whomever she wanted and still look innocent, he could shag Emily Rustenburg and not fear Lily's reaction.

He had the balls to do it, if only he had the opportunity. It seemed as soon as he started kissing Emily and started running his hands over her voluntarily, he heard his name being called by a horrifically familiar voice. "James?"

He turned and cussed to himself. Of course. It had to be her. Lily couldn't just leave him alone.

"Wha…What''s going on?" Lily asked, confused.

"What does it look like?" James snapped. "Not like it's any of your business. After all, we're not official. I can do whatever I want, can't I?"

Lily shook her head, trying to release herself from the daze she was in. Suddenly, it all clicked. He didn't want her. Sirius and Remus were wrong: he could shag casually and he had been tricking her the whole time.

"No, of course not," Lily replied, stuttering. "I'm just a little shocked. I was hoping a little that Sirius and Remus were right, but that doesn't change anything. It was never official, so if you want to be with Rustenburg, it's none of my business. Sorry. I'll be going now," she said, excusing herself and hurrying to her Charms class, running up the stairs down the hall, hiding her face to keep people from noticing her tears.

"There, now that wasn't so bad," Emily said, trying to reel James back in. But he pushed her away and she got angry. "What the hell?"

"That's not so bad?" he repeated, and again in a louder voice. "The whole point was to make Lily notice me, to get her to keep paying attention to me."

He ran off and Emily huffed before taking out her two-way mirror. "The first step is complete, my lord," she said.

Voldemort laughed evilly. "Good. Next will be her parents. You have done well. Perhaps your mother will live after all."

She nodded and put the mirror away, ready to go gloat to her friends that she and James had snogged in Lovers' Hall. Emily laughed softly, darkly. It was a pity he had no idea what he had done, where he had done it.

* * *

"It's worse than before," Tonks commented, watching as Lily and James ignored each other. "Worse than when I threw my fit second-year to get moved from Slytherin to--"

"We are not that bad," Lily snapped at her best friend, sitting across from her on Remus's lap. "You blew up half the west wing and threatened to destroy the dungeons until Dippit had to agree." She laughed and picked at her food. "Can't say I'm sad to see him replaced. Should've grown a pair and said no. Not until you threatened the Sorting Hat." She looked around, in a daze. "Where are Alice and Frank?"

"Hiding from you two," Remus stated, serious. "They left with Padfoot because they couldn't take the tension. But has anyone seen Peter?"

Lily and James shrugged. He told Remus, "I haven't seen the bloke in days. Dunno what he's up to, with all his happy, carefree classes crap."

She and James were sitting next to each other, but turned away from each other and not speaking. Sirius had excused himself early, not able to take the couple, and Tonks moved into his spot next to Remus. And soon after moved onto his lap, where they snogged and flirted, like a regular couple.

Remus almost said something to Lily, but thought better. He was going to say how James had every right to assume she meant they weren't serious, after her declaration to become a slut only nights before to get back at her brother. But last second, he remembered that the excuse would not account for James kissing Lily's mortal enemy in Lovers' Hall. The hall where every couple goes when they want something more, and become official with the consummation.

And every couple that ever shagged there ended up getting married when they left Hogwarts. Every last couple.

"I know you're all concerned," Lily started, "but everything is fine. We were never official, and now that James has made his little conquest, he's free to move on to whomever he'd like."

"And now that Lily's done with me, she can continue to traipse men in and out of her room all she wants without getting attached to her shag-partners," James sniped, glaring at the fruit dish in front of him. His gaze was so intense Tonks moved it in fear that he would blow it up.

"Traipse men in my room?" Lily repeated, looking at him with confusion and disgust. "Do you really think I'm a whore? Who even said that?"

"Emily."

Lily gaped. "Emily? Rustenburg? The Ravenclaw git? Even if I was, how would she know?"

Suddenly an owl flew in and everyone looked up, startled and afraid it would come to them. Through the year, owls had been arriving at night to tell students the news of family tragedy. Tonight, the second night back from break, would be the arrival of the first owl for the new term.

And it landed in front of Lily.

She gasped and a tear fell from her eye before she even started reading the note.

_Dear Miss Lillian Evans,_

_It is with great sadness that I must inform you that tonight, Lawrence Harold Evans was killed by the "avada kedavra" curse. We were able to discern the curse was from Lord Voldemort's wand and that your sister and mother were spared, as they were in the house when this happened. However, they have requested at this time you do not return home and have enclosed a letter for your further reading._

_My deepest condolences,_

_Rufus Scrimgeour, Head of Aurors Office_

Lily burst into tears as she ripped opened the second letter, the words becoming blurs as tear hit them and her eyes watered shut_._ She handed the note to Tonks and shook her head, running away.

Tonks sighed as she read the note and gasped, reading it quietly to her group of friends.

_Lily,_

_It appears that after so many years I finally have proof as to horrid and retched you becoming a witch has been for this family It wasn't enough that Harry became a wizard, while poor Petunia had no powers, you had to come along and have powers that rivaled Harry's. Now, because of you, my husband is dead and men in strange cloaks are traipsing about my house._

_The funeral will be held tomorrow, though no animals are allowed and so I do not want to see a bitch like you arrive. Likewise, you are no longer invited to Petunia's wedding this summer. Once you leave Hogwarts this year, I will give you one day to pick up all your belongings and move out. It will be a day neither Petunia or I are around, as so we do not see your hideous face._

_From now on, you are no daughter of mine. You helped in killing my husband._

_Athena Evans_

"Not even a goodbye?" James whispered as Tonks ran away with the letter, looking to find Lily and condole her. "Do you think Lily read it, Moony?"

He shook his head. "No, but by the way I've heard her talk about her mom, she probably knows that's what the notes about. Her mother's always hated Lily for knowing magic when Petunia, her older sister, didn't. Her mom's really put a mental beating on Lily over the years. And her siblings. Her dad's the only thing she was hanging on for."

Then he looked James in the eye. "She's contemplated suicide before, you know. Several times. But the only reason she didn't go through is because she loved her father too much to leave him. And I thought you two would have that relationship, that maybe _you_ could be her reason for existence, but then you go and snog Rustenburg." Remus sighed. "I don't know if Lily will be the same after this."

Suddenly Sirius bounded in, skipping. He sat down next to James and smiled. "What did I miss?"

* * *

Several hours later, while James was out patrolling, he heard a great commotion and went to shoo the students away from whatever was keeping them up after hours. He ran into Dumbledore. "Sir, what's going on?"

"It appears Miss Evans has disappeared," he told James, pensive. "She was with Miss Tonks in the lavatory a few hours ago, regarding the letter from dinner tonight, then Miss Tonks came into the infirmary saying she had been attacked by Death Eaters and Miss Evans was missing."

James froze, shocked. Lily, lost her dad, lost her family, now kidnapped by the man who killed her father.

And suddenly, everything he felt went out the window. The anger he felt that she would use him, the hurt of finding out they weren't a couple--everything melted away and his only desire was to see her again, hold her again.

"Where could they have taken her?" he asked, hurried.

"Not very far. They'd have to be students to get in here, and I doubt they'd have left the building with her." Dumbledore sighed and turned as Hagrid, the gamekeeper, and Filch, the new caretaker came barreling down the hall and he laughed softly. "I'd bottle that enthusiasm now, Mr. Filch. When the next generation arrives you'll be a surly old man by my count."

Filch nodded emphatically. "Yes sir, though I don't believe so. Who's this girl? The one that's missing?"

"A dear friend of mine. Lily Evans. We must find her immediately before any danger falls upon her. Hagrid, I need you to owl her brother. You know where to find him. Tell Harry it's time."

"Ye mean--"

Dumbledore nodded solemnly.

"Idda thought he'd have a few more years left in 'im. Can't it be the second--"

Dumbledore shook his head. Hahrid, while very loveable, didn't know the prophecy. Just that Harry had to die saving Lily, to help her evade Lord Voldemort the first time. It was sad really, just as Lily was starting to accept Harry's behavior.

He turned to Filch. "I want you to search the castle for any ways more Death Eaters could arrive, any could leave. I want to know where we should be looking for Miss Evans, and I want the grid to be as tight as possible."

Filch nodded and ran through the halls, sprinting o the dungeons to check from the ground up.

Next, Dumbledore turned to James. "So, how were you and Miss Evans doing before this unfortunate event?" he asked, lighthearted and walking, expecting James to follow.

"Actually, sir, Lily and I got in a fight today. We had a miscommunication and…" He trailed off and looked at his trainers, not believing he had let this happen. "And now she's gone and I can't apologize."

Dumbledore nodded and looked at James. "I understand how you feel. This wouldn't be about when Lily yelled in class that you weren't a couple in class, would it?" The boy nodded, awed. "James, as it turns out, teachers gossip too."

He turned and walked towards his office, letting James come with him. "A lesson regarding the heart of women. They know, in the back of their mind, that you are serious. But women need the words, as well. They need to hear that you are serious. Especially women like Lily, who never get anything at face-value. She was merely protecting herself from disappointment, not because you two weren't in a relationship."

James nodded and heard the telltale coming of a wizard by floo. He turned to see Harry Evans pop out of Dumbledore's fireplace, followed by Matt Jameson and Thomas Ritter. Harry glared around the room and then looked at Dumbledore. "Where did they take her?"

Dumbledore pursed his lip. "I don't know yet. Soon. I know they have to be from the school, and that narrows it to--"

"Fuck this narrowing down. I can do this part for you!" Harry yelled. "There were two boys that Lily worried about. Severus Snape and Mulciber. She would write about them a lot. Snape used to be her best friend--lived down the street from us. Mulciber took him over and made him go against Lily."

"Which is why, I can assure you, Severus did not take Lily," Dumbledore said, holding his gaze and giving Harry a look.

Harry's eyes popped, then he blinked and rolled them. "Does everyone like my sister behind my back? There's no way I'd ever let any of them near her--take her away from me. She's too precious for me." He looked at the ground, depressed. "She's the only family I have now."

"Did your mother write you a nasty note today, too?" James asked, drawing everyone's attention to him. "When Lily got notice that Uncle Larry died, she had another note from your mother saying she was never allowed to see Athena or Petunia again. Called Lily a bitch and said she helped kill your dad."

Harry stared in shock and disbelief, then saw Dumbledore nod his affirmation. Suddenly Harry yelled and promised to make everyone pay.

Matt rolled his eyes. "Of course he'd get emotional when he's about to die."


	7. Chapter 7

"We need to talk, Miss Evans," someone said from the shadows.

"I have nothing to say. Except untie me. I mean, I've done nothing wrong," she told the voice, annoyed. "How long have I even been tied up? I demand that you let me talk to whoever's in charge here."

"I am, Miss Evans," the voice replied, slicked over, sounding like it had just consumed a bottle of honey. "And I must say, you're a very well-behaved hostage. Most of them try to escape, and then we have to kill them."

Lily rolled her eyes. "Mulciber, you're not fooling anyone. I want to speak to whoever's _in charge_. Not some lackey that can't even dominate in a relationship."

The voice growled, and Mulciber came out of the shadows. "You want me dominate a girl? I'll fuck you up, Evans. No problem."

She glared. "Touch me and I'll castrate you. I'm serious."

He glared back and came closer. "I don't think you get it, Evans. You've wanted me to fuck you since you came to Hogwarts. All Mudbloods are whores, it's okay to admit it. I would've gotten around to it before if I had any interest. But now if you're demanding, and you like it rough…a few hours of my time wouldn't be wasted."

Lily's eyes widened, then narrowed into slits. If that son of a bitch thought he was getting away with calling her a Mudblood and a whore…

"You bloody git!" someone else--feminine and familiar--yelled as a hand came out of the shadows to thwack him. "Leave her alone until our lord is done with her. I'm not letting my mother die just because you want to rape her. You and Snape. Maybe you two can cross swords with her corpse later."

Lily groaned. "Rustenburg."

Emily came out of the shadows, smirking. She had a glint to her eyes Lily immediately identified as predatory and superior. Emily thought she had her, and that there would be no fight. Oh hell, no. Lily was going to fight, tooth and claw.

"Hello, Lily dear," she greeted. "I just wanted to say, your boyfriend? Very good kisser. What did you teach him to make him kiss that well?" Lily just glared back, and Emily laughed maliciously. "Oh, you're not still mad about Jamesy and me, are you? I'm sorry, but he's just so cute, and so _gullible_. Thinking I would know you bring men back to your dorm--you wouldn't even be able to get a man. You're too ugly to attract anyone."

"And you're too bitchy and annoying for any man to stay around after they wake up," Lily replied. "Parading around like some innocent little girl when you constantly sleep with anything hard and fast." She looked over and Mulciber and smirked. "Even sometimes with things that are small and slow."

"Watch it!" he yelled.

Lily ignored him. "So when is Moldy Wart getting here?" she asked. "The sooner he arrives, I can kill him and avenge my dad."

Emily snorted and turned away, signaling at others still hidden in the shadows to tell Voldemort Lily was awake. "The muggle? He didn't deserve to live. Athena and Petunia understood. You are a menace. He should have killed you himself when you were a child--we wouldn't have gone after him quite so soon if it weren't for you."

"Squib."

Emily stopped and turned back to her. "Excuse me?"

"My dad was a squib, not a muggle. I'm not a Mudblood. My parents are both squibs," Lily told her, glaring. "And there's absolutely no reason that my dad should've died. He was a good man, that always did the right thing."

"He did the wrong thing by keeping you around," Mulciber muttered. "We wouldn't kill him until we made our way through the muggle-communities if he hadn't kept you--"

"What's so special about me?" Lily spat.

"Everything, my dear," a new voice said, cold and threatening. "Absolutely everything."

For the first time, as she watched him appear from the shadows, Lily was afraid of Lord Voldemort.

* * *

"Do you guys really think we're going to get anywhere with this?" Sirius asked, stuffing his mouth in the Great hall the morning after Lily disappeared. "I mean, just sitting around waiting for them to find Lily?"

"No," James replied, glaring at his fruit plate once again. He glared at Tonks next when she moved it. "What was that for?"

"I don't like when ceramic explodes!" she snapped. "And stop glaring at me before I explode. Because if I do, I'm gonna haunt you for the rest of your life."

He sighed and got up. "I'm going to my dorm. Find me when Dumbledore knows something about--"

"Dumbledore!" Harry yelled, throwing the doors to the Great Hall open and fast-walking to the head table as students murmured all around the Great Hall about his presence.

"Harry, I told you to wait for me--" he started.

"I want to know why everyone's in here eating breakfast while my sister's out there somewhere, probably in the castle, under the Deatheaters' grasp!" he yelled, finally making it to the head table. "I want Lily found. Now."

Suddenly everyone started to talk and whisper at once and Harry groaned, then glared as he hoisted himself up onto the head table to look out at the crowd. "Don't tell me none of you figured out Lily was my sister! Someone had to know! She sang with me all over the world--no one noticed her?"

The crowd went silent and suddenly Matt and Thomas ran in. "Dude, duck!" Matt yelled, sliding under the Gryffindor table, right under James and Sirius. "We found them, and they aren't too happy!"

Spells started flying into the Great Hall, and everyone started to duck and run, trying to stay clear of the cross-fire. Harry jumped off the table and style and started performing wandless magic.

From under the table, Sirius whistled, impressed. "The force is with him," he said to James, only to meet his confused face. "Come on. You never saw _Star Wars_? Next time you come over. It's an American muggle movie. My mum despises it."

Matt rolled his eyes as he watched the crowd, waiting for the Deatheaters to come out and into the Great Hall. "Always knew the wandless magic training was a good idea. He can fight for Lily and she can still look like she flying at concerts. Be all, 'yes I'm that cool' when we perform for muggles. Ministry approved all the wandless stuff for her to use outside of school--"

"Lily already knew it when we started learning it in class?" James asked.

Harry joined them under the table, taking his wand from Matt. "Course she did. Now the only question is why hasn't she used it to escape," he replied. "Jameson, where did you guys find her?"

Matt and Thomas looked at each other guiltily. "We found _them_ in the dungeon. We're assuming Lily's somewhere down there," Thomas told him.

James watched as Harry went still. Then he exploded. "What do you mean you didn't find my baby sister? They could be killing her right now! She could be tortured and hurt! She could be dealing with Snivelous."

"Mate, you already mentioned she could be tortured and hurt," Thomas replied. "You don't have to tell us twice."

"If she's with Snivelous, she's not tortured and hurt. She's in fucking hell," Matt told him, rolling his eyes. "Being with him is worse than being hurt and tortured."

Thomas agreed and the four boys laughed, though Harry and James's laughs were hollow. What if she really was…

Suddenly the Deatheaters strolled into the Great Hall and Harry ran out, flinging spells at each in turn, some of them missing and being met with counter-spells. James watched as Harry led them further into the hall and Matt rolled out behind the Deatheaters, Thomas standing back-toback with him in case any more snuck in on them.

"James, why don't you go look for Lily?" Matt asked as he calmly took people out. "Harry, how does that sound?"

He glared at Matt from where he was on top of the head table again. "Weren't you the one that told me Lily called earlier and said she broke up with James because she found out he wasn't serious about her? That he was a two-timin' git?"

Matt rolled his eyes. "Go find her, James. And apologize. Or I will personally rip you apart on behalf of Harry."

"How about I try to source her out instead?" Harry yelled as he got off the desk, the hall cleared of Deatheaters. "We need to go find Dumbledore and see if he can bring down the barriers or something. Find a way to let me use strong magic."

They agreed and James was asked to go get his friends and meet them in Dumbledore's office. Thoas told him, it was for the search party. "We're about to wage a massive war inside the walls of Hogwarts. And during that war, we need a group to go search out Lily and bring her back. I'd only trust the people who care for me, and Harry would want the people that care for Lily to find her."

"So Sirius is out," James muttered, getting a laugh from Thomas. "We'll be right there. Though I'd think Harry would want to find her himself. Just…why does Lily have to--"

"Someone'll explain later," Thomas told him, cutting James off. "But someone has to find Lily and bring her to the fight. She needs to be involved and she needs to be there to say goodbye."

He ran out of the hall through a back door behind the head table, leaving James there for a moment to wonder what Lily was saying goodbye to. Then, he shrugged and ran up the stairs to get his friends.

* * *

"My lord, there seems to be a problem," Emily told him, stopping him from advancing towards Lily anymore.

"Speak, before I slit your mother's throat and let her die like a muggle would," he snapped, making Emily cringed.

"Her brother is here. And he brought two friends. It seems the two have been sneaking around in the dungeons and found one of our decoy groups."

Voldemort nodded and ordered others in the room, hidden by shadows, to prepare for a true battle, that they would take over Hogwarts in a few hours. Then he turned to Lily and smiled maliciously, taking out his wand.

"My brother's here? Really? That's a lousy bluff," Lily told Emily, glaring. "I don't have a brother. I don't have a family anymore thanks to someone that thinks he's all that with his little tinker toys."

She glared at Voldemort and Emily laughed again. "Oh really? The name Harrold Laurence Evans means nothing to you?" She watched in satisfaction as Lily's head shot up. "He's here with a Matt Jameson and Thomas Ritter."

"No way! The Marauders are here? I didn't book them to play until this Saturday!" she started, pretending. "Unless today's Saturday already. In which case, I need to get ready for the dance."

Voldemort, whipped his wand and Lily felt the lash on her cheek, knowing he used a wandless spell. Soon, after the sting subsided, she felt her blood trickle down her cheek as Emily smirked at her.

"When you told me about your parents both being squibs, I thought of where I had heard that before. And then I remembered the story about Harry Evans, the singer of everyone's favorite band, and how he was the son of two squibs. Two different squib couples with the same last name? How strange a coincidence. And then, I remembered how everyone talked about how Harry Evans had a little sister at Hogwarts, but nobody knew who she was. And I got to thinking--"

"Enough. We don't have time for this," Voldemort snapped as he hit Emily too. "Now, be quiet or your mother dies."

Emily shut up and Voldemort turned back to Lily, only to see her staring at him with extreme concentration then, slamming around in her seat. "You! Enough!"

"Rustenburg, don't listen to him!" Lily yelled. "He's lying! You're mother's already dead. He killed her last--"

She was slapped again, this time the lash grazing her eyebrow, and Emily slapped her as well, her rings cutting into Lily's unbeaten cheek. "I don't believe you, you lying piece of filth," Emily hissed. "My mother was one of the dark lord's most loyal Deatheaters. He would never kill her after he made a deal with me."

Lily snorted. "Did you make an unbreakable promise or whatever? Because otherwise, he's the dark frickin' lord. He can do whatever he wants--that's how he got to be who he is today. What did your mum even do to get her head on the chopping block in the first place?"

"Treason," Voldemort replied curtly. "Morgana was telling all my plans to Dumbledore, expecting me not to find out. But, oh, I always know. Which is why I told her she would die. But then her daughter comes to stop me. Like that would do anything."

Emily gasped in shock and Lily made a gesture as if to say duh. "Dark lord, power over all the dark stuff. He made his living off of screwing over people like you."

"Yes, and now that I have the girl, I no longer require your assistance, Miss Rustenburg," Voldemort told her, yelling "_avada kedavra_" and killing the girl. "Now, as for you, Miss Evans, I have more importance business with you."

"If you want to kill my mom now, she already disowned me," Lily told him. "I mean, just in case you wanted to hold her life over my head. I'd actually prefer if you killed her right now. She wouldn't even let me go to my dad's funeral."

He only laughed. "I do remember a filthy bitch telling me that you were no longer her daughter. It's a shame that your father loved you more. I've always thought the father was the beast. Not the mother."

"In my mum's eyes, witches are the worst, and I'm the worst of the witches because I stopped my sister from being a witch," she told him, sighing. "She doesn't get that I had no control over that. Any of that."

"Ah, but I can help. I can take the whole world of magic away from you," Voldemort told her, smirking as he started circling her. "I can even take the muggle world away. Because _I_ am going to kill you."

Lily looked at him, a little annoyed. "What the hell did I do to you that's making you so adamant about killing me?"

"It's not what you've done, it's what you will do," he told her, hitting her again with the invisible whip on the wand.

"If you tell me what you think I'll do, I promise I won't do it," she offered, half-mocking, half-angry. "You don't actually have to kill me. I'm good at taking directions. Ask any of my teachers, choreographers--"

"Enough!" old mort snapped, hitting her again. "You are going to give birth to James Potter's child. He will end up killing me and letting muggles run rampant again. I cannot take that risk."

Lily shrugged, wincing at the pain a simple shrug created, and looked at him, mad. "If I promise not to have a son, can I live?"

He shook his head, mocking her. "No. I'm not about to risk having a girl beat me."

Suddenly he saw Lily glare, and she became a totally different person. She started growling, and rocking in her chair. It thudded on the ground, making scraping noises as it came down heavy on one side, than the other.

Mucliber moved to stop her, but Voldemort put his hand out to stop him. "Yes, Miss Evans?" he asked, sounding cocky.

"What's so bad about girls?" she asked, finally snapping the front right leg off the chair. She leaned far left, then used the whole weight of her body to break the back legs off the chair. "Girls kick men's asses every day. Like right now."

Voldemort hid his shock, and got his wand ready in a lazy, lackadaisical manner. But in seconds, he was shocked to see his wand walked away. He tried to read her mind with Legilimency, but it seemed she was skilled in Occlumency. He had no idea what she was thinking.

* * *

"Did anyone hear that?" Matt asked, still in Dumbledore's office.

James shook his head. "What was it?"

Harry stopped and listened, then laughed when he heard it. "Screaming. Grown man screaming. I think Lily got out."

"Nah. Ten pounds says she got pissed at Moldy Wart and decided to do her psycho-bitch routine. Now we really have to find her," Matt told everyone, rolling his eyes.

Harry looked at Thomas, then Matt, before he smiled. "Dude, I need the Asians for this."

The Floo network in Dumbledore's office suddenly went off, and the younger Marauders turned to see Daiyu and Siyu walked out, Daiyu dusting off and glaring at Harry. "For the record, I hate being called the Asians. Only Lily gets to call me that."

"How did--" Harry started.

"Tonks. She was really shaken up, so I came immediately. Siyu figured you'd want to pull a Spring Break--whatever that is--so he came with."

Harry smiled and shook hands with Siyu. Then he turned back to everyone. "All right. So, we're planning a Spring Break with a Brit. Who wants the front?"

"Um…I'm getting married soon. I'll stay in back," Siyu told him, walking behind Harry.

Matt sighed. "I'll take the front. But we need another person for your extra side--"

"I'll do it!" Sirius offered, excited. "Anything to get me fighting against Voldemort and going against everything my family taught me."

James and Remus sighed, though listened to Harry's directions. He was going to use a very specific calling spell from the Great Hall. Lily would respond, just as she had the last time she tried it on a Spring Break, and James and Harry would go after her.

Remus got confused as to what he would be doing until Tonks ran in and grabbed him to work with her and Daiyu. "That's what the boys want to do--what they think'll work," Daiyu told him. "We have a more realistic way to search her out."

"How?" Remus asked, curious.

The boys told them they were leaving, and Daiyu only waved her acknowledgement as Tonks pulled out a school map. "We're going to find the most likely areas she'd be held, then the least likely, and search them all," Tonks told her. "And this psycho-bitch routine? If we can hear it, I'd say she isn't more than a few floors away. She's not quite as loud as she thinks. So no dungeons."

Remus slapped his head and pulled out a blank piece of parchment, muttering the words "I solemnly swear I am up to no good" as he held his wand over it. He explained to the girls that it was a secret map of the school that had everyone's location on it.

"So, who made this map?" Tonks asked, turning it over and noticing the names. "You guys made this? How?"

Daiyu slapped her lightly upside the head. "Now's not the time, Dum-Dum. We need to find Lily and save--I found her!" she yelled, excited, as she pointed to the astronomy tower. "She's in that trapdoor classroom that no one uses."

Tonks sighed. "It's actually a Divinations classroom, Yu. You just never took the class. It's kind of fun."

Daiyu shrugged and gave the map back to Remus, who muttered "mischief managed" as he shoved it back into his pocket and sprinted out the doors after Daiyu and Tonks.

* * *

"Daiyu!" Siyu yelled, watching her sprint up stairs towards the astronomy tower. "Tonks!" he tried right after, watching her sprint after Daiyu. When he saw Remus, he didn't even bother yelling to him. "Harry, everyone else is going to the astronomy tower!"

"I don't care. We're pulling a Spring Break with a Brit, remember? She'll come to us," he yelled as he stood up on the Gryffindor table and started to think of what song he was supposed to sing. "Um…what was the song I sang?"

Thomas shrugged. "I dunno. Something Russian, though."

Matt rolled his eyes. "Thanks, moron. We were in Russia. Doesn't mean it was Russian. It was her friend's song…Lee. Amy Lee and Seether. She was an extra voice… 'Broken,' I wanna say."

Harry smiled. "Thanks, mate." He cleared his throat, and started to sing. "I wanted you to know that I love the way you laugh. I wanna hold you high and steal your pain away…"

He went on to sing the first stanza, which James recognized as a song Lily often sang, avoiding the pieces with a male singer. But just as he was about to say something, they started to be attacked and he watched as Matt fought everyone off from the front and Harry went on singing until he heard it.

"Because I'm broken when I'm lonesome," Harry sang, with Lily's voice tearing through. They continued to the next line, "And I don't feel right when you're gone away."

Harry smiled in victory as he grabbed James by the back of his shirt and started leading him towards the voice, singing the next shared line before Lily's solo stanza. "Hit anyone coming at us. Lily will start coming to us, so we need to meet her in the middle."

"Where is she?" James asked.

"One of the upper floors," he told him, getting ready for the next shared stanza. "But the magic? It's powerful tracking magic. She's going to be sprung from the room to us. And Voldemort'll be following."

* * *

"Um… should we stop her?" Remus asked as they saw a figure being catapulted through the halls. "That's Lily, right?"

Daiyu shrugged, then her eyes bugged out and she grabbed Tonks and Remus by their shirt collars, hiding them in the shadows with her mouth pressed against their mouths. "We need to stay completely silent," she whispered. "Voldemort'll be coming, trying to figure out how Lily just became a flying blur-ball."

"Blur-ball?" Remus asked, only to get shushed.

Soon enough, they saw Voldemort saunter down the stairs with Mulciber and Lucius Malfoy following him. He was flustered, and yelling at the two, wanting a reason for why Lily got away.

Once they got down the hall, Daiyu let out a breath she was involuntarily holding and let go of the other two before continuing to climb up the stairs. Remus asked whet she was doing and she only shrugged, saying she thought there might be someone else up there, and she had the strangest feeling they had to find her.

Sure enough, they climbed into the tower and found Emily Rustenburg, lying prostrate on the ground. Tonks rushed to her, only to purse her lips and announce Emily was dead. Daiyu breathed in deeply and said a prayer for her in Chinese as Remus said one in English and Tonks reluctantly said one in Gaelic, her native language.

It seemed almost appropriate that they all revert back to their childhood language. To Remus, he had no choice but to say it in English, but to hear the girls say their prayers in a language he didn't know, that would mean nothing to a girl that meant nothing to them, it seemed important. Like it was the kind of mourning she should have--her family, spread out around the globe, there to mourn her.

Because the three of them would probably be the only ones to know she died. They'd pass the news and body onto Dumbledore, but he would try to cover it up, for the sake of the school.

The three walked somberly back downstairs, carefully balancing Emily's body over Remus left shoulder so he could continue using his wand if he so needed it.

"I hated her," Tonks told everyone, breaking the silence. "She was older than me by two years, and she treated me like dirt. She and Lily fought, and I was always there on Lily's side, which made me even worse than dirt to her. But even with all the hate the three of us possessed, I'm sad to see her go."

Daiyu laughed lightly. "And the worst part is, it never gets better. My enemy at Hogwarts, Lily can tell you, was this nasty-looking girl named Bellestra Greyback. She used to threaten to sic her dad on me, who's a werewolf. Poor girl…two years ago, her dad was going through a transformation, and she tried sneaking up on him with her friends, and he ended up killing her three friends, and severely scarring her. And then cast her out of the family because she was too ugly to attract any pure-blooded wizards of good pedigree.

"I never felt so wrong for the girl. She ended up dying last year, of hypothermia. I guess none of the shelters in the wizarding communities would take her in because they were afraid she was a werewolf, and she was too proud to stoop to the muggle shelters. To this day, I feel like I should've done something for her, stopped her from hurting."

They all grew silent again, each person contemplating something different. Daiyu continued her self-beating in her mind, reliving her past, while Tonks thought over her whole rivalry with Emily.

Remus only thought more about Daiyu's story, about Greyback's daughter--the daughter of the beast responsible for making him a werewolf. He was suddenly afraid for himself, of what might happen to him if he were to ever need shelter like she did. Would he be granted shelter, in a wizarding _or_ muggle shelter? They would both obviously realize something was wrong with him quickly.

* * *

"Lilsy!" Harry greeted as they met on the third floor, Deatheaters at all sides. "It's great to see you. Why weren't you in the dungeons?"

She shrugged. "My guess would be they were too obvious. I mean, they send a few Deatheaters down there to throw you guys off while they kill me up in the Divination classroom? It sounds perfect to me. No one would check the towers."

Harry shrugged and agreed. "At least the Spring Break worked."

"I can't believe you used it in the middle of a battle," Lily told him, shocked and confusing James. "Did you at least use a Brit to keep you guarded?"

"Can someone explain?" James asked.

"A Spring Break is when you combine, like, three different tracking spells with an _accio_ and the person's hobby to reunite a group of people. A Brit's short for a Britty-Brat. It's when you surround a person on all four sides and cast defensive spells on three sides and attack spells from the front," Lily explained.

Suddenly there was a noise and Lily dropped to the ground, yanking James down with her as Harry yelled a spell. She whispered to James "Voldemort" and he looked at her, shocked.

When he saw the streaks of blood on her body and swollen eye, the cuts from where rings connected with her face, he growled and sent out a spell so powerful it knocked out the majority of the Deatheaters.

Lily looked at him, shocked, and stood up with a sigh. This was not going to be fun.

"Lily, you left before we could finish our little game," Voldemort sneered, looking at James and Harry. "And look! You brought me friends! Now I can make sure the prophecy never comes true."

James started towards him, while Harry held him back. "What is he talking about?" James said, trying to get by.

"The one where it's two-prong. Either one of you dies and he gains control of the world, or someone dies and the only person that'll ever beat Voldemort is born," Harry replied, making Voldemort laugh. "What? You don't think that's right?"

"I know it's not," he told him, glaring. "The prophecy I'm referring to says that the child of a pseudo-mudblood and a pureblooded wizard will end up defeating me. The only "pseudo-mudblood" I could think of was Miss Evans. And by the sounds of it, the pureblood would be James over here."

"What if it's me?" Harry challenged. "I'm a pseudo-muddy, my girlfriend's a pureblood. We're even expecting a kid. What if it's my kid?" he asked.

Lily gasped and started to ask if Harry was telling the truth, when suddenly Voldemort whipped out a wordless spell and a yellow light shot out towards Harry.


	8. Attention Fans

Hello,

This is not the writer you know as Camy-Tay. This is her brother, Jae, and I regret to inform you that she will no longer be able to write stories for you. November 18 of 2009, we received word that Cam had cancer. We caught it during her check-up after having the tapeworm removed, but we had not caught it in time.

April 17, 2010, Cam passed away from leukemia.

It has taken me almost a year to figure out her password to tell everyone what has happened. I am sorry for all of you that expected updates. I don't know why she ever made her password the mascot of the first boarding school she attended, but whatever. I loved her, but she was weird.

That being said, I know nothing about , except that Cam wrote on this website and she would want her followers to know she passed. I think they receive updates on her every entry, but I will try to post this letter at the end of every story she's written.

I will keep her page up and try to have her friends write stories in her memory so that she may live on, but I haven't talked to many of them since her funeral.

I'm sorry and God bless Cam. May she be in good hands.


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